dim 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


INJURESOUL; 


Satire  for  Science, 


BY 

A.     J.     H.    D  U  G  A  N  N  E. 


REASON,   throned  upon  the   WORLD'S  Mixn,  shall  be  the     '• 
King  of  Kings  and  the  God  of  Gods." 

COL.  R.  J.  INGERSOLL. 


NEW  YORK : 
AMERICAN   BOOK-PRINT   COMPANY. 

1884. 


WHAT?    WHY?    HOW? 

What  NATURE  shows:— Her  facts  of  Evidence,  main, 
tabling  BIBLE  TRUTH, 

Why  I  print:— Because  I  would  affirm  the  Subsistence 
of  Divine  LAWS  and  FORCE,  accountant  for 
all  things, 

Howl  deal  with  INFIDELITY  personified  by  INJURE- 
SOUL:— through  worse  INFIDELITY  personi- 
fied by  BEECH  ER, 

THE  AUTHOR. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1884,  by 

A.   J.  H.DUGANNE, 

in  the  office  of  the  Librarian   of  Congress. 


INJURESOUL. 


FYTTE  FIRST. 

An  "  AGE  of  REASON"  is  ours,  ye  Schools  ! 
Science  for  sucklings  ! — Mind  for  mules  ; 
Faith  for  a  few  old-fashioned  folks  ! — 
Hell  but  a  humbug  ! — Heaven,  a  hoax  ! 

An  "Age  of  Reason"  incites  my  Muse  ! — 
An  Age  to  "give  the  Devil  his  dues  !" 
And,  if  all  claims  for  help  advanced, 
By  Devil  to  man,  since  Nimrod  pranced  ; 
All  bonds  he  holds  on  souls,  and  shares 
Of  stocks,  with  human  "bulls"  and  "bears;" 
All  mortgages  on  minds,  and  liens 
On  lives,  for  mortal  ways  and  means, 
Borrowed  "on  TIME,"  through  all  years  past, 
Foreclosed,  shall  '  'sell  out"  Earth,  at  last, 
Certes — if  Devil  survive  that  day — 
Mankind  must  look  for — "Hell  to  pay  !" 

Good  folks,  they  tell  me,  harbor  doubt 
Of  "  roaring  lion,  going  about !" — 


612814 

LIBRARY 


4  INJURESOUL. 

Though  still  your  State  Attorney  prates 
Of  "  malice  a  Devil  instigates  !".  .  . 
So  let  it  pass,  for  simile  droll, 
If  "  Devil"  I  name,  for  INJURESOUL  !  . .  . 
But  yet  — could  Limbo  lack  one  limb 
O'  th'  law,  when  Satan  wanted  him — 
I'd  match  this  one,   for  hardest  "case," 
Our  side,  at  least,  of  "  t'  other  place  !'' 
With  latest  suit  in  "  Chance-ry"  gained—- 
By Beelzebub,  in  rem,  tl  retained" — 
I'd  match  him,  with  his  "  pal,"  TOM  PAINE, 
To  stand  by  sinners,  back  to  Cain  ; 
Iscariot's  treachery  deny  ; 
Submit  for  Herod  an  alibi ; 
And,  if  appeals  be  heard  below, 
Plead  for  his  kindred  crank — Guiteau  ; 
Madman  !  and  yet  no  more  insane 
Than  INJURESOUL — put  brain  with  brain  ; 
And.  as  assassin,  less  his  guilt, 
For  blood  of  one  poor  man  he  spilt, 
Than  JUSTICE  brands  on  INJURESOUL  !  .  .  . . 
For  never,  on  earth — since  Satan  stole 
O'er  Eden's  flowers,  in  serpent  guise, 
To  kill  sweet  PEACE  in  Paradise — 
Has  homicide  dealt  doom,  and  dole, 
Worse  than  this  murderer — INJURESOUL  ! 
Whose  hates  all  human  hopes  would  blast ; 
Whose  hopes  inhuman  hates  forecast : 


INJURE  SOUL. 

Affronting  heaven  with  boast  of  clod —        \ 
Himself  his  REASON  !  and  REASON  his — GOD  \\ 

"  An  Age  of  Reason  !  " — an  Age  of  Thought ! 

Theses  rehearsed — and  Theories  taught ! 

Free  understandings — loosening  Locke's  ! 

Full-fledged  philosophers — in  frocks  1 

And,  in  each  Normal  School,  per  viam, 

Stars  weighed,  and  planets  poised— -per  diem  ! 

What  marvel,  then,  with  aids  to  sight, 

Like  Liebig's  lens  and  Edison's  light — 

"  Half-Hours  with  Science  !  "  Huxley's  bones  ! 

Shelley's  "Queen  Mab  !  "  Hugh  Miller's  "  Stones  !' 

What  marvel,  then,  that  soul  in  PAINE 

Flares  out  afresh,  from  atheist  brain  ; 

And  grins  at  us — from  Darwin's  goal — 

Tom  Paine  revived — as  INJURESOUL  ! 

Insensate  sciolist !  whose  pert, 
Poll-parrot  prate  would  heaven  subvert, 
And  hell  suppress  !  what  time  his  dim 
Dark-lantern  lights  up  brain  for  him  ! — 
This  dwarf,  who  stands  on  tiptoe,  lest 
High  heaven  should  fail  to  hear  his  jest ; 
And  lifts,  like  Ajax  blind,  his  roar  : 
"  Give  me  but  LIGHT — I  ask  no  more  !" 
Who  jibes  at  Bible  Faith,  yet  looks 
For  all  his  stand-points,  into  books; 


INJURE  SOUL. 

Blackstone  consults,  for  lawyer's  brief, 

Kepler  for  astronomic  belief, 

Huygens  for  light,  and  Huxley's  bones 

For  geologic  creed  he  owns  ; 

This  dunce  of  books  !  whose  mind,  awry, 

Boggles  at  sunshine  in  yon  sky  ; 

Blinks  at  meridian  beam,  which  flows 

With  all  sweet  sense  and  soul  he  knows  ; 

Yet,  in  his  arrogance,  presumes 

That  his  own  soul  his  sense  illumes — 

Or,  upon  soul  and  sense  combined, 

Stacks  up  his — BOOKS  ! — and  calls  them — MIND  ! 

Note  him  ! .  .  .  his  "REASON"  as  "god  and  lord  !' 

He  "doubts,"  forsooth  MOSAIC  word; 

Doubts  everything,  he  says,  but  "facts," 

And  sells  his  doubts,  in  printed  tracts  : 

At  Eden's  joys  and  giiefs  he  jeers  ; 

At  Adam's  apple  astutely  sneers  ; 

And  "doubts  the  fact"  of  apple  there  ; 

Or  if  an  apple  expelled  a  "pair ;" 

But  when  it  comes  to  pippin's  fall, 

Near  good  Sir  Isaac's  garden  wall, 

And  good  Sir  Isaac's  brains  are  spun, 

For  THEORY,  linking  apple  and  sun — 

Keplerian  stock,  to  graft  his  fruit  on — 

"No  doubt  of  THAT  !  "  cries  Bob— "'Tis  NKWTOX 


INJURESOUL. 

Bob  INJURESOUL  ! — id  esi,  TOM  PAINE  I 

Names  never  signify  ! — Tis  Brain  ! 

Tom  Paine,  in  Pharoah's  day,  as  this, 

At  Moses  mocked,  with  serpent  hiss  : 

And  mocking  CHRIST,  at  later  date, 

Bob  was  Voltaire,  with  Fritz  the  Great  ; 

When  Reason  and  Rhyme,  for  king  and  sage, 

Bandied  bad  wit,  with  rival  rage ! .  .  .  . 

Tom  talked  his  REASON  at  Grecian  mob  ; 

PAUL  heard  him,  as  we  now  hear  Bob  ! 

All  years  Dementia  plays  her  pranks — 

All  nations  chronicle  their  cranks  ; 

Dull  dupes,  by  many  a  dolt  enticed, 

Have  heard  the  rogue  say — "I   am  CHRIST  !'; 

What  odds,  if  INJURESOUL  cry  out — 

"I'm  Anti-Christ !"  while  riff-raff  shout  ? 

What  odds,  if  devil,  in  rage  malign, 

Rush  out  of  madman — into  swine ; 

And  the  unclean  possession  again 

Headlong  shall  cast  itself?  .  .  .  .What  then  ? 

He  "DOUBTS  !"  .  .  And  if  he  doubts,  I  say — 
Doubt,  as  you  will !     'Tis  MANHOOD'S  way  ! 
And  if  his  doubts  his  ways  incline, 
Higher  or  lower  than  ways  of  mine, 
So  let  him  walk  ! — and  if  his  MIND 
Flap  wings,  like  bantam  fowl  inclined, 
Cock-wise,  and  crow  forth  barnyard  talk, 
So  let  him  wave  1 — "cock  of  his  walk  !"  4 


1NJURESOUL. 

So  far,  so  good  !  so  far,  so  ill ! — 

As  Bob,  by  REASON  impelled,  may  WILL  ! 

Though  Paine  be  dust,  his  LIGHT  abides, 

With  MIND,  wherever  its  REASON  guides ! 

At  one  with  books,  at  one  with  brain — 

Yea,  even  at  one  with  priest,  in  fane  — 

Yet,  from  that  FLAME,  which  MOSES  felt, 

(What  space  on  SINAI'S  MOUNT  he  knelt,) 

Variant  as  flares  of  phosphor  fumes, 

From  noon-day's  light,  which  Heaven  illumes  ! 

Tom  Paine  is  dead  !     His  MIND,  pervert, 
Lingers  in  fire-damp — fire  in  dirt ! 
Malarious  marsh-light's  viscid  fogs, 
In  stagnant  fens,  and  flaccid  bogs  ; 
Or,  upon  grave-yard  turf,  at  night, 
Corpse-candle  sheen — corruption's  light ! 
Fire  under  falsehood  !  golden  gleams, 
Where  matter  inert  with  poison  teems  ! 
Light  such  as  pools  putrescent  share — 
Gilding  dead-fish  with  ghastly  glare  ; 
Light  of  worm-eaten  woods,  where  mould 
Punk-fire  accretes,  with  glister  cold  ; 
Yea,  the  dread  FIRE-DAMP  miners  fly, 
Or — if  their  hearts  inhale  it — die  ! 
Yet  is  it  LIGHT,  no  less,  for  BRAINS — 
While  phosphor-fire  their  pulp  retains  ; 
Phosphor  of  mackerel,  carp,  or  cod  ! — 
LIGHT — but  no  love-light,  given    of  GOD  ! 


INJURESOUL. 

TOM  PAINE  is  dust ! . . .  .But  cureless  pains 
Return,  where  cancerous  core  remains  ; 
As  fangs  of  snake,  in  reptile  head, 
Retain  their  roots,  though  skin  be  shed  ; 
And  the  old  dust — ophidian  food — 
Revives  again  reptilian  brood  ! 
Tom  Paine  is  dead  ! . . .  His  days  of  doubt, 
Like  a  "  brief  candle/'  soon  snuffed  out ; 
Fading  with  REASON,  in  fitful  glare, 
As  phosphor  flickers,  in  VAULT-AIR  ! 
Let  the  play  pass — 'tis  Nature's  pun, 
Grim,  like  her  "  sport,"  when  Gallic  sun 
Rose  on  that  wretched  birth — VOLTAIRE— 
And  his  MIND  made  itself—  "fixed  air  !" 
Wherein,  and  whence,  for  human  hurt, 
Light  was  to  lurk,  like  fire  in  dirt ! 
Not  sweet,  electric  LIGHT,  which  flows 
In  ambient  airs,  with  heavenly  glows  ; 
But  scant,  obscure,  senescent  rays, 
Reek-fed,  from  rots,  where  life  decays  ; 
Where  life  on  death-dews  feeds,  and  earth 
Travails,  with  seeds  for  monstrous  birth — 
Twin-seeds,  empoisoning  Nature's  womb  ; 
Twin-offspring,  cradled  in  her  tomb  ; 
Sweet  AIR  !  sweet  HEAT!  for  evil  amerced, 
Bob's  Light  to  bear FIRE-DAMP  accursed  1  • 

Such  Light  for  INJURESOUL  abides, 

Whose  "  Reason  enthroned  "  his  GOD  derides  ! 


)  INJURhSOUL. 

Such  LIGHT  perverse,  Tom  PAINE,  poor  fool  ! 

Adored  as  REASON,  in  Gallic  school ! 

Poor  PAINE — whose  words,  in  MAN'S  defense, 

With  white  fire  burned — for  "Common  Sense  !" 

Ere  his  bright  brain,  from  Light  divine, 

Shrivelled,  in  lees  of  Gallic  wine! 

Wine  such  as  MIND,  in  Paris  mud, 

"  Drunk  as  a  drab,"  commixed  with — blood  ; 

When  Robespierrean  REASON,  enshrined, 

"  Goddess  "  was  hailed  of  Gallic  mind  ! 

Crown'd — as  she  reeled — with  Phrygian  Cap  ; 

Clasping  VOLTAIRE,  on  shameless  lap — 

Stark-naked,  drawn  by  drunken  mob  ! 

Throned  on  a  cart ! your  REASON  ! — O !  Bob 

All  History  notes  these  BOBS  and  TOMS, 
Since  dust  was  dust,  in  catacombs! 
'Twas  Tom  who  sneered,  when  Satan  hissed  ; 
Twas  Bob,  who  smiled,  when  Judas  kissed  ; 
Nor  less,  like  Bob,  for  Egypt's  gods, 
Egypt's  magicians  charmed  their  rods  ; 
To  hiss — like  Bob — as  snakes  empowered  ; 
At  Heaven — at  MOSES— till  devoured  !  .  .  .  . 

BALAAM  was  Bob,  when  jackass  bray 

Told  him  an  angel  barred  the  way! 

And  Balaam's  REASON,  in  ''  moral  suasion,". 

Abused  his  ass— for  REVELATION  ! 


INJURLSOUL.  ii 

Yea  !  in  all  days,  like  Balak's  priest, 
Blaspheming  Bob  bestrides  his  beast ! 
And,  always  baulked,  at  NATURE'S  pass, 
He  coaxes,  cuffs,  and  kicks,  his  ass  : 
Dumb  ass  !  by  prideful  MIND  bestrid, 
And  ruled  as  fitful  sense  may  bid  ; 
Yea,  in  all  days,  as  MIND  cajoles, 
Their  REASON  is  ridden  by  INJURESOULS  . 
Till  the  truth  dawns  on  rider  blind — 
His  ass,  betimes,  may  teach  his  MIND! 

Ah,  well  for  MIND  !  if  REASON,  alert 
Like  Balaam's  ass,  with  Bob  in  dirt — 
Flung  from  his  selle — might  cry  out  now  : 
"  What  have  I  done  to  thee,  that  thou 
Hast  smitten  me — thine  ass  ?"....  Alas  ! 
This  talking  ass  ! — this  atheist  ass  ! — 
This  mongrel  !  sired  by  DIRT,  and  damm'd 
By  DOUBT  ! — and  ridden,  all  days,  rough-shod, 
By  INJURESOULS — against  their  GOD  ! 

He  doubts  my  FAITH,!  O  !  mother  of  mine  ! 
What  sweet,  old-fashioned  Faith  was  thine  1 
When,  on  our  knees,  in  childish  prayer, 
We  voiced  it — "  GOD  is  EVERYWHERE!  " 
When,  in  our  MINDS,  with  childish  thought, 
Thy  creed  was  OURS — nor  else  we  sought ! 
Sure  of  one  hope — from  Calvary  given  ! 
Sure  of  one  friend — Our  FATHER  in  HEAVEN  ! 


s  INJURE  SOUL. 

THY  creed,  my  mother  !  all  creeds  above  ! — 
"  Love  one  another ! GOD  is  LOVE  !  " 8 

Nought  else  we  sought !  nor  ever  abjured, 
For  school-taught  lore,  that  LIGHT  assured — 
By  CHRISTMAS  lamps,  at  EASTER  swung, 
And  by  those  STARS,  which  DAVID  sung. 
When,  in  his  poem  of  JOB,  he  said — 
'•'  His  CANDLE  shined  upon  my  head  !".... 
Nought  else  we  learned  ! — nor  ever  inclined, 
With  brains  or  books,  to  c*make  up  MIND''; 
Till,  from  my  mother's  grave  out-sped, 
On  variant  lines  our  ways  were  led  ; 
Lights  of  our  ingle-side  went  out  j 
Faith  fled,  and  REASON  arrived — with  DOUBT  ' 

Book-light  was  mine,  all  joys  to  sum  ! 
Book-light  my  drink — my  pabulum  ! 
Nor  recked  I  yet,  ere  "teens"  were  reached, 
What  teachers  taught  or  preachers  preached  ; 
All  worlds  for  me,  when  chimney  nook 
Held  me  enchained,  o'er  each  new  book  ! — 
New  books  !  old  books  !  light  care  I  felt, 
Though  must  and  mould  on  leaf  I  smelt ; 
Or,  if  what  books  I  sought  gave  forth 
Thy  mind,  thou  "wizard  of  the  North  !" 
Thy  mind,  Le  Sage  !  or  thine,  Froissart ! 
Cervantes,  thine  !  or  thine,  Des  Cartes  ! 


INJURE  SOUL.  13 

But  why  enumerate  books  I  skimmed, 

Boy-like,  till  twilight  daylight  dimmed  ? 

Full  oft,  indeed,  till  morning  lights, 

Book-bound,  by  fond  "  Arabian  Nights  !'' 

Nor  REASON  ignored  ! — In  sooth,  my  mind, 

Bob-like — toward  skeptic  lore  inclined  : 

And,  to  make  up  my  MIND,  from  brain, 

Voltaire  I  read — and  eke  TOM  PAINE  ! 

And,  in  those  days,  no  sage,  no  seer — 

No  INJURESOUL — in    MIND  was  freer ! 

All  sorts  of  brain  pulp  mixed  with  mine  ; 

"  Precept  on  precept — line  on  line  !  " 

No  chains  of  Calvin,  nor  John  Knox, 

Held  mz  in  thraldom  orthodox ! — 

No  fierce  rebound,  from  fierce  control, 

Freed  me,  as  MIND  freed  INJURESOUL  ! 

And  yet,  wit'i  books  and  brains  o'er  fraught, 

Free,  as  Bob  INJURESOUL,  for — THOUGHT  ! 

Free  to  eat  pulp — and  ink  to  drink — 

Scoff  at  high  heaven,  like  Bob — and   THINK  ! 

KEPLER  my  architect  of  stars — 

Angels  dismissed,  with  antique  LARS  ; 

Some  little  faith  left,  in  some  CAUSE, 

Anterior  to  KEPLERIAN  laws  ; 

But  the  old  FAITH  my  sisters  wist, 

And  the  OLD  BOOK  my  mother  kissed, 

"  Well !  they  were  childish  dreams,''  I  said — 

"  Fairy  tales !"  .  .   .  And  I  shook  my  head  ! 


14  INJURES  OUL. 

BOB  knows  it  all !  His  manly  goals 

Were  mine  !  and  mine — Bob  INJURESOUL'S  ! 

His  ploughshare  mine,  for  fallow  brain, 

His  out-crop  mine,  too — husk  and  grain  !  .  . 

Bob  knows  what  wide-eyed  Reason  arraigns  ! 

What  low-down  knowledge  MIND  disdains  I 

Lessons  for  women-folks — and  fools  ! 

And  love-lore,  learned  at  nursery  schools ! 

Bob's  noble  nature  craved,  in  sooth, 

PURE  LIGHT,  as  mine  did — spotless  TRUTH  ! — 

PURE  LIGHT,  star  gazers  find,  with  looks, 

Cross-eyed,  at  heavenly  ways,  and — books  ; 

High  truth,  some  seer  of  fire-damp  gains, 

From  Huxley's  bones,  and  Darwin's  brains ! 

Yea  !  in  my  day — with  mind  matured, 

From  books — but  with  no  Faith  assured  ; 

Earth  bounding  me,  as  shell  of  snail, 

I  ate,  drank,  slept,  in  flexile  mail. 

Life  among  men  I  liked — nor  latched 

My  heart  from  hearts  my  liking  matched  : 

Nor  shut  mine  eyes,  when  devious  light, 

This  way  or  that  way,  wooed  my  sight ! 

Accepting  life — as  worm  with  worm — 

And  for  all  else— a  pachyderm  ! 

Content,  if  sins  to  folly  snared, 

To  think  that  all  to  heaven  were  bared  ; 

Quoth  I,  "By  Heaven  my  lot  is  cast ! 

I  leave  to  Heaven  my  lot,  at  last  !" 


INJURESOUL.  15 

Loose  creed  !  loose  life  !  .  .  .  and  all  my  LIGHT 
Summed,  in — "  Whatever  is,  is  right  !  " 

"  Broad  Church"  was  mine  !  no  pew-door  locks 

Kept  me  on  springs,  like  "Jack-in-Box  ;  '' 

No  boys  I  "chummed''  were  ground  to  lobs, 

By  Presbyterian  sire,  like  Bob's  ; 

Nor  by  their  prayerful  mother  made 

Haters  of  GOD — to  whom  she  prayed. 

And  if  I  smiled  when  SPURGEON  raved, 

Or  MILLER'S  "  dark  day  "  lightly  braved  ; 

If  meek-eyed  PARKER'S  wrath  enthused, 

Or  BROWNSON'S  pomp  of  words  amused  ; 

If  CHANNIXG'S  gracious  grace  enticed, 

Or  CHAPIN'S  "fire-escape"'  I  priced — 

All  shrines  I  sought,  but  set  up  none  : 

More  apt,  from  "  rapt  up  "  EMERSON, 

To  quote  his  quibble  of  tongue  or  pen — 

"  I  pass  ! — re-pass  ! — and  turn  again  !  "9 

BOB  knows  it  all  ! — His  head  he  shook, 
Doubtless,  with  doubts,  of  ways  he  took  ; 
But.  with  his  Reason  alert  to  sway, 
Fillipped  his  mother's  faith  away  ; 
"  Whistled  adown  the  wind,"  her  prayer  ; 
And,  with  his  high  hat  cocked,  in  air — 
Spurning  all  "  Orthodox  "  control — 
Quoth  he — "  I'm  Bob  ! — I'm  INJURESOUL!  " 


1 6  INJURESOUL. 

Childhood  no  longer  lifted  hands 

Full  of  white  shells  and  silver  sands, 

Wrought  into  crystal  cones  and  cubes  f — 

MANHOOD  saw  LIGHT  through  Herschell  tubes  ; 

Where  Herschell  heavenly  quarters  kept. 

And  their  blue  floors  his  sister  swept !  I8 

High  over  pebbly  pearls  and  spars, 

Bob  raised  his  FAITH  on  rays  of  stars  ; 

And  fixed  it — (REASON  a  little  "mixed") — 

On  SPACE  !  where  sundry  STARS  were  "  fixed  ; " 

Space  !  fixed  by  Laws  no  Kepler  shows ! 

Space  !  fixed  forever,  in  grand  repose  ! 

While  every  other  concern,  in  heaven — 

Peg  top,  whipped  up — THROUGH  SPACE  is  driven  !  u 

Not  loosely  I — with  light  word  said — 

'•'  Rush  in,  where  angels  fear  to  Iread  !  " 

Not  mine,  at  "  Reason,"  in  astral  light, 

To  dash,  like  stupid  moth  at  night  : 

My  joco-serious  line  befits, 

Betimes,  as  foil  to  fire-damp  wits ; 

Yet  do  I  flirt  no  ink  to  smirch 

Lustre  of  Science,  or  Light  of  Church  ! 

Flame  is  my  WISDOM  !  honey  of  bee 

I  eat — because  'tis  good  for  me  ! 

And  if  I  find  it  sweetly  celled 

In  modern  hives,  or  hives  of  eld  ; 

Gathered  by  Greek,  by  Roman  stored  ; 

Where  Heathens  waste  or  Christians  hoard  ; 


1NJURESOUL. 

Or  seek  it  whither,  in  secret  combs, 
Wax-light  or  rush-light  tricks  up  tomes  ; 
Though  in  all  murk  my  mint  may  shine  ; 
If  it  be  NATURE'S  Light,  'tis  mine  ! — 
Bee-quest  is  mine — for  sweets  in  flowers; 
Whereso  they  bloom  in  beds  or  bowers  ; 
Whereso  they  scent  surrounding  airs ; 
And,  if  malarious  flows  be  theirs, 
Let  me  one  fragrant  current  find, 
Void  of  all  virus — 'tis  my  "  mind  !  " 
Yea  !  though,   from  reeks  of  Rabelais, 
Or  rank  Petronius — one  white  ray 
Fitly  were  won,  for  worthier  use, 
I'll  mix  it  with  my  honey-juice  ; 
Then,  with  my  MIND  in  sweet  control— 
WISDOM,  as  REASON,  instructing  SOUL — 
Light  of  my  Lord  shall  softly  thrill, 
And  my  SOUL  say  :  "  THY  Will  ! — my  will  1 

LIGHT  of  my  LORD  !  — and  is  it  afar  ? 
For  souls  to  seek  in  sun  or  star? 
LOVE  of  my  LORD  !— is  it  not  near, 
When  eyes  are  wet  with  Pity  's  tear  ? 
When  lips  are  bright,  with  smile,  to  win 
Poor,  lonesome  souls  to  human  kin  ? 
What  is  it  to  me — if  seers  of  stars 
Tell  us  that  Deity  swung  out  Mars  ? 


1 3  INJURESOUL. 

And  what  to  me,  if  worlds  ye  pile, 

As  a  High  Church  !  and  pave  each  aisle 

With  orbs  !  and  fling  up  altar  flames, 

From  central  suns  !  yea,  fashion  frames 

Of  arch-ways  and  of  architraves  ; 

Cloisters  and  chancels — knobs  and  naves  ? 

And  what,  if  pompous  priest  be  there  ? 

Yea!  priesthoods  !  hierarchs — at  prayer  ! 

While  in  our  grave-yards,  here  below, 

Sad  MARIES  kneel,  in  'wildered  woe  ! 

Clasping  their  white,  cold  hands,  this  day, 

O'  er  tombstone  never  to  roll  away  !  — 

And  all  their  faith  in  God  estrayed, 

And  all  their  HOPES  of  HEAVEN  bewrayed  ; 

All  human  loves,  for  human  mates; 

All  homes  beyond  these  grave-yard  gates  ; 

All  solacements—  that  here  sufficed — 

In  a  Sealed  Tomb  . .  .  with  a  ' '  DEAD  CHRIST  !" 

While  Bobs  and  Toms  —  polemic  bridge  on — 

RECONCILE  SCIENCE — with  RELIGION  ! 

BOB  !  did  I  say  ?  —with  TOM  ! as  peers  ! 

Bridge  piers  astride — exchanging  jeers  ? 

Yea  !  priest  with  priest  ! . .  .  computing  "  weights 

And  "  bulks,"  of  lamps  on  heavenly  gates  ! 

And  measuring  transit  trips  of  rays, 

From  "lunar"  beams,  to  "solar"  blaze  ! 

Nicely  exact!  — that  "  he  who  runs 

May  read"  their  "  facts"  of  stars  and  suns  : 


INJURE  SOUL.  19 

Yea,  their  old  "  Mother  Earth"  inspect, 

And,  by  her  teeth,  her  age  detect ! 

And  — if  they  reach  not  Darwin's  pulp — 

All  ante-Darwin  "  facts  "   they  gulp  ; 

Compactly  pressed  with  stellar  pacts — , 

Till  "minds"  are  all  made  up — from  "  facts!'' 

While  "  Desk  "  with  "  Pulpit  "  makes  exchange, 

And  "  minds  advanced  "  get  broader  range  ! 

Ranging  from  BIBLE  of  Peter  and  Paul, 

With  "spread"  so  broad — ;t  ends  in  sprawl ! 

So  PAUL — as— SAUL — with  Bob  behind, 

Back  to  Damascus  gate  goes — blind  ! 

And  Tom  turns  up,  with  cock  crow  lies) 

Where  Peter,  again,  his  Lord  denies  ! . . . . 

Yea  !  by  each  church-flock  jumping  bars, 

Light-lured,  by  "  aberrate  rays ''  of — stars  1 

Shepherd  intent  on  Darwin's  book — 

And  Bob  behind — with  shepherd's — crook! 

Yea  !  by  each  priest  forsworn,  who  spouts 
"  Fire-damp  "  on  tongue  which  "Moses  "  doubts  ! — 
Proffering  poor  SOULS  his  SOLE  reliance  : 
"RELIGION  !  " — " RECONCILED" — to  "SCIENCE  1  "  '* 


INJURE  SOUL. 


FYTTE  SECOND. 

I  grant  you,  KEPLER  lifted  scan 

From  knees  of  prayer,  as  Christian  man  ! 

NEWTON,  no  less,  in  star  and  sod, 

Confessed  their  MAKER — as  his  GOD  ! 

Each  sought,  on  brain  and  books,  to  print 

"  God's  word,"  through  life's  long  septuagint : 

And  yet — when  heaven  and  earth  they  trace — 

Mindless  of  GOD,  they  call  it — SPACE  ! 

SPACE  ...  as  if  MOSES  — seer  of  GOD — 

Knew  not,  when  Sinai's  Mount  he  trod, 

What  "  DEEP  "  by  flaming  heats  was  rent, 

Ere  GOD  ordained  yon  "  firmament !  '' 

Yea  !  ere  HE  bade  His  LIGHT'S  advance 

All  moistures  melt — for  Light's  expanse  ! 

Yea !  when  His  WILL  decreed  His  PLAN — 

By  LAWS  which  Heaven  and  Earth  fore-ran  ! 

LAWS — like  HIMSELF — of  DUAL  existence — 

By  which — through  which — dwells  ALL  SUBSISTENCE 

I  blame  not  Bob  !  .  .  .  With  REASON'S  ken, 

I  scan  the  ways  of  women  and  men — 

Ways  of  our  days,  when  churches  sit, 

With  shaking  sides,  at  pulpit  wit ; 

".Star"  preachers,  "drawing  a  house,"  like  players, 

And  a  clown's  jokes  enlivening  prayers ; 


INJURE  SOUL. 

When  the  same  crowds,  of  age  and  youth, 
Beechers  and  Bobs  beset — for  "truth  ;" 
Critics  of  "truth" — from  tongue  or  book — 
And  their  criterion — "Black  Crook  !  " 
GOD!  who  art  GOD  !  though  impious  creed, 
Or  impious  doubt,  our  souls  mislead  ; 
GOD  !  who  art  GOD  !  though  impious  hands 
At  martyr's  breast  pile  up  their  brands  : 
What  word  of  thine,  by  WISDOM  weighed, 
What  laws  of  thine,  by  souls  obeyed, 
What  church  of  thine,  by  NATURE  built, 
Shall  pretext  make,  for  human  guilt, 
In  aught  that  heaven  or  earth  contains, 
Save  in  this  REASON — of  human  brains  ? — 
Save  in  this  MIND,  bestirred  for  WILL — 
CAUSE  of  all  crimes — their  MOTOR  still  ?  I3 

Anon  ! . . .  not  yet .  . .  but  farther  on, 
My  Reason  her  word  shall  speak  ! .  .  .  ANON 
And,  in  my  ways  of  REASON,  inquire, 
What  "candle  shined,"  for  David's  lyre  ; 
What  LIGHTED  SPACE,  ere  earth  was  made  ; 
Or  ever  in  heaven  a  star  displayed  ! 
And,  in  my  light  of  stars — uplift, 
Where  heavenly  airs  diurnal  drift — 
Ask  of  our  star-seers,  whence  and  when, 
Planets  were  rolled  toward  earthly  ken  ? 


•  INJURE  SOUL. 

Why,  as  they  tell  us,  in  air  afar, 
Systems  stretch,  endless — star  on  star  ? 
Why  such  unnumbered  worlds  in  SPACE  ? 
Yet  but  one  earth  ! — one  dying  race  ! 
One  Adam,  in  grief  o'er  woeful  loss  ! 
One  Moses  !...and  one  Calvary  cross?— 
All  worlds  ignored  for  EARTH  ! — all  orbs 
Godless — while  EARTH  their  GOD  absorbs  ? 
Yea,  on  this  EARTH — for  MAN,  ill-willed — 
God  born  !  God  suffering  !  and  God  killed  I 
And,  in  his  stead — o'er  dust  and  dole — 
FIRE-DAMP  Arisen  ! — with  INJURESOUL  ! 

Far  is  my  Reason,  as  ways  may  wend, 
From  ways  which  down  to  Darkness  trend  ; 
But  more  remote  from  ways  I  tread, 
Is  man  or  woman,  who  shares  my  bread — 
Yea  !  shares  my  shew-bread  and  my  wine — 
But  slurs  their  Substance — Love  DIVINE  ! 
Christians  or  Jews  my  soul  deplores, 
BIGOTS  !  who  shut  SALVATION'S  doors  ; 
And,  on  each  Difference  and  each  DOUBT, 
Fling  fire-damps  of  DAMNATION  out ! 
Nor  zeal,  nor  faith,  nor  truth  atones 
For  creed  which  cruelty  condones  ! — 
Whoso  shall  tell  me,  prayers  uprise 
From  blood-stained  hierarch — he  lies ! 
Whoso  affirms,  JEHOVAH'S  WORD 
Toward  acts  of  rapine  Joshua  stirred — 


INJURE  SOUL.  23 

Or  ever — in  witness  Moses  bore — 

Enjoined  or  authorized  LUST  or  WAR  ! 

Or,  for  Judea,  was  different  word, 

Than  JESUS  gave — "  Put  up  thy  sword  !  " 

Or  ever  a  curse  pronounced  on  soil — 

Or  ever  a  license  spake,  for  spoil — 

Whoso  at  CHRISTIAN  shrine  shall  bend, 

Nor  feel  that  God  is  "  Father "  and  "  Friend  "- 

Nor  feel,  as  voice  of  brooding  dove, 

That  gospel  JOHN  said — "GoD  is  LOVE  !" — 

I  count  such  Christians  far  from  LIGHT, 

As  Bobs  and  Toms,  in  atheist  night ; 

I  count  their  prayers  as  wasted  breath — 

I  count  their  lives  as  "  life  in  death  !  " — 

Yea  !  as  JEHOVAH  lives,  I  swear — 

Creeds  are  but  coins,  and  impress  bear  ; 

Impress  of  "reasoning  minds,  "  which  stamp, 

On  Christian  church  or  Moslem  camp, 

On  council,  conclave,  synod,  sect, 

Whatso  "  superior  minds  "  direct !  .  . . 

And — in  an  Age  not  yet,  but  still 

Not  so  far  distant — MIND,  as  WILL, 

Guided  by  Church,  may  conclave  call ; 

Churches  to  bind  and  councils  thrall — 

Canons,  and  creeds,  and  "  minds,  "  to  change — 

Till  "  Minds  Advanced  "  have  broadest  range  ; 

And  a  "  Last  Christian  Church/'  at  odds, 

Bow  down  to  REASON — as  "god  of  gods  !  "  u 


tl  INJURESOUL. 

"  Doubt  !  and  you  die  !  "  So  Greeks  ordained, 
And  Socrates  his  death  cup  drained  ! 
"  Die,  doubter  !"  Saul  of  Tarsus  saith, 
O'er  righteous  Stephen,  stoned  to  death  ; 
"  He  doubts  our  gods  !"     the  Roman  cries  ; 
And  Paul  must  bleed— and  Peter  dies  ! 
Jews  doubt  MESSIAH,  and  straitly  burn  ; 
And  MOSLEMS,  doubtful,  roast,  in  turn  ; 
Yea,  for  his  "doubt,"  your  Christian  drops — 
At  Smithfield  "stakes,"  or  Tyburn  "chops  I" 

Priest !  Presbyter  !— yea,  Puritan  ! — 
Kills,  for  his  "  doubts,"  some  fellow-man  ! 
And  still  base  BIGOTRY'S  red  wraith 
Rises,  with — "  We  defend  our  FAITH  !" 

So,  in  OUR  years,  might  fagots  blaze, 
Could  "Age  of  Reason"  its  altars  raise  ! 
For  in  this  day,  mine  ears  have  heard 
BIGOTS,  as  quick  with  atheist  word — 
BIGOTS,  as  furious  for  "  Free  Thought," 
As  ever  a  monk,  with  "  faith  "  o'er-fraught, 
In  Torquemada's  days,  was  quick, 
With  "racks"  and  "  screws"  for  "heretic  !" 
And  if  an  "Age  of  Reason" — anon — 
(Bos  INJURESOUL  still  "marching  on") — 
Shall  witness  "  TOM"  and  "  BOB"  enshrined, 
With  "  REASON  enthroned  on  the  world's  Mind 


INJURESOUL. 

What  think  you  ?     Will  no  Fire-damp  flare, 
For  REASON  and  MIND,  in  blood-red  air  ? — 
GOD  pity  EARTH  !  if  ever  its  clods, 
Be  ruled  by  REASON,  as — "god  of  gods  !" 

FREE  THOUGHT  ! — O  !  hark  !  how  Bob  exhorts  ! 
"  Minds"  he  would  manumit — from  torts  ! 
Chains  he  would  break,  from  human  souls  ! 
And  souls  uplift,  toward  MANHOOD'S  goals  ! 
All  gods,  all  altars — present  and  past — 
Bob  geeks  at ! — Grand  Iconoclast  ! — 
No  bolts,  no  bars,  his  course  control  ! — 
No  bobstays — for  BOB  INJURESOUL  ! 
He  turns  to  MIND  alone — for  rules  ; 
And  finds  his  ruling  MIND  in — "  schools  !" 
Carps  at  convictions  FAITH  conceives — 
Tears  up  an  "Old  Book  "  SHE  believes  ! 
While,  from  his  own  "old  books,"  he  draws 
FAITH,  for  his  REASON,  in  Newton's  laws  ! 
And  struts,  with  high-head  bearing  weights, 
(One  stone  to  each  square  inch  !  — he  states  !)  "  43 
And  that  stiff  neck  of  his,  ox-yoked, 
Goose-yoked — as  if  by  pillory  choked  ! — 
Eyes  cocked,  on  high,  in  stellar  stocks — 
Back  braced,  by  ' '  eocine  age  "  of  rocks  ! 
Silurian  swamps  around  his  legs  ! 
Strata  ! — to  hatch  forth  Darwin's  eggs  ! — 


26  IXJURESOUL. 

With  "miocene"  trails,  and  "pliocene"'  tracts, 

To  seat  Bob,  solid,  on  "  bottom  facts  !  " 

And  as  he  cocks  his  eye  up,  sunward, 

"I'm  in  the  stocks  ! '"  he  cries .  .  .  '•  Let's  onward 


So,  Bobs  and  Toms  on  hobbies  climb, 
To  map  off  worlds,  and  count  off  Time  !  .  .  . 
So,  tons  of  wasted  brains,  all  years, 
And  wasted  books,  on  whirling  spheres, 
Reeled  off,  like  sewing-silk,  on  spools, 
Thread  swaddling-clothes  for  pygmy  schools  : 
Pygmy,  because    these  MI.VDS  of  men 
(Dwarfs,  in  their  highest  quest  or  ken.) 
Cut  loose  from  NATURE'S  "  leading  strings,  " 
And  each  on  favorite  hobby  springs  ! 

So,  Science  mounts,  for  see-saw  course, 

Booted  and  spurred —  on  rocking-horse  ! 

Firm  in  her  saddle  she  lifts  her  war-word  ; 

' '  Follow  me,  friends  !  she  says  ..."  Let's  forward 

White  Light  of  WISDOM  ! — bathing  brains, 
As  birds  are  bathed  in  aerial  bains  !  — 
Bithed,  and  upborne,  while  wing  obeys 
Impulse  of  mind,  in  NATURE'S  ways  ! — • 
How  had  thy  FLAME'S  omnific  force 
Led  mankind,  on  material  course ; 


INJURE  SOUL.  27 

Led  arts,  led  hearts,  led  lives,  led  lands, 
If  minds  of  schools,  from  swaddling  bands, 
Had  risen,  on  earth,  as  minds  of  MEN, 
Banded  to  gain  MAN'S  rights  again  ! — 
Leaving  yon  heaven  its  heavenly  host  ; 
Seeking,  by  nights,  no  aerial  ghost ; 
But  broadening  Reason,  and  widening    Mind — 
Helps  for  all  human  hurts  to  find  ! 

Alack  !  for  Reason  ! — All  airs  it  scans, 
And  stars  it  counts,  and  space  it  spans  ; 
And  sorts  all  airs  for  gaseous  kinds, 
And,  in  all  air-flow,  substance  finds  : 
Nor  yet  one  FACT  of  Science  shows 
Where,  whence,  or  why,   MALARIA  flows  ! 

Ah  !  if  'twere  only  BOB,  whose  breath 
Benumbs  poor  souls  with  chills  of  death  ; 
Ices  worn  hearts  with  callous  crust, 
And  tramples  hopes  of  hearts  to  dust  ! — 
If  the  old  chancery  suit,  he  jobs, 
No  pleas  could  count,  for  fees,  but  Bob's  !— > 
Bob,  in  my  tracks,  might  air  his  stings, 
And  gold-dust  lap,  to  gild  his  "  rings  ;  " 
I'd  simply  say,  or  shrewdly  think — 
Tis  the  Old  Snake  back,  link  on  link  ! 
Tis  Bob  who  talks  !  'tis  INJURESOUL  ! 
He  tells  his  tale,  and  takes  his  toll ! 


28  INJURES  OUL. 

And  if  mistakes  in  talk  he  makes, 
He  makes  no  miss  in  tolls  he  takes  ! 
Retailing  tales,  where'er  he  goes, 
His  Bob-tales  every  skeptic  knows  ! 
Shelley's  wild  wickedness,  "Queen   Mab," 
Good  minds  would  blot,  but  bad  ones  blab  ; 
Bayle's  balderdash,  and  vampyre  Hobbes, 
Blood-bloated  by  all  buried  Bobs  ! .  .  . 

Still  croak  your  crows,  when  rook  exhorts : 

And  when  Bob  sneezes,   skeptic  snorts  ; 

Even  as  some  churches,  souls  to  win, 

Sing — pray — and  then — "the   laugh   comes  in!" 

When  jocose  pastor's  quips  amuse, 

And  puerile  puns  appreciate  pews  ; 

With  digs  at  "dogmas,  "clips  at  "  isms," 

He  stops  all  schisms,   by — witticisms  ! 

Like  base-ball  sport,  his  play  of  wits, 

His  "innings''  helped  by  timely  "hits;" 

Till,  some  dark  day,  beset  by  doublings, 

Church  splits  ....  and  "  innings  "  end — in  "  outings. 

Hear,  now,  O  !  Reason  !  and  hear,  O  !  Mind  ! 
Frays  are  for  me,   where  foes  I   find  ! 
Bold  INJURESOUL  his  brows  may  ruck, 
And,  in  his  wild  ways,  "  run  amuck  !'' 
Whereat— my  "  mind  made  up  "  for  fight- 
Bob,  in  his  loose  career,  I  smite  !  .  .  . 


INJURE  SOUL.  29 

But,  as  I've  said — and  still  repeat — 

At  Christian  church-doors  foes  I  meet  ; 

At  Christian  shrine,  on  bending  knees, 

GREATHEART,  this  day,  my  sad  soul  sees  : 

In  his  "  whole  armor  of  Faith  "  arrayed  ; 

With  shield  of  truth — and  gospel  blade — 

God's  Word  his  castle-wall  !  .  .  .  .  and  yet, 

When  prideful  foes  their  battle  set, 

He  whimpers,  at  each  fresh  defiance, 

"  We  '11  reconcile  GOD'S  WORD — with  SCIENCE  !  " ls 

Skeptics  !  we  know  them  !  .  .  .  Toms  and  Bobs 

May  hiss  hot  hates,  like  scoriae  scobs  ! 

Satan  may  stand,  as  erst  he  stood, 

And  yell  forth  :   "  EVIL  !  be  thou  my  GOOD  !  " 

Who  recks,  if  well-known  snake  shall  hiss  ? 

Or,  if  an  unmasked  Judas  kiss? 

Judas !  go  hang !  .  .  .  'Tis  PAUL  I  dread, 

And  PETER,  in  ways  of  MIND  mis-led  !  .  .  .  * 

Bold  Simon  Peter  !  alert  with  blade  ! 

And  yet  by  rabble  of  louts  dismayed  ; 

Skulking  from  Christ,  with  craven  lies  .  .  . 

Till,  at  one  look  from  those  sweet  eyes, 

Touched  to  his  heart  again,  he  creeps 

Toward  shadows  of  the  night — and  weeps  ! 

Meantime,  by  whip's  and   thorn's  appliance, 

Jews  reconcile  GOD'S  WORD — with  SCIENCE  ! 


30  INJURE  SOUL. 

Mischievous  Bob  is  !  .  .  .  That  I  grant !  — 
Mischief's  his  trade-mark  !  .  . .  Eyes  aslant, 
Like  a  lewd  wench,  at  watch  with  lure, 
And  quick  with  looks,  where  looks  assure  ; 
So  saunters  REASON,  on  mischief  bent  ; 
For  ruin  of  mind — with  mind's  consent  !  .  .  . 
Small  harm  for  sense  such  harlot  stirs, 
Till  a  lewd  heart  shall  follow  hers  ! — 
Unchanging  laws,  with  Nature  knit, 
Fitness  decree,  where  fittings  fit  ; 
Bell-wether  leads,  where  sheep  will  go — 
And  where  they  MIGHT  go — whether  or  no  ! 

Bright  Bob  !  ...  he  girds  at  Scripture  faith  ; 
Yet  Scripture  tales  he  makes  his  staith  ; 
"Your  Bjble  books  are  frauds  !  "  he  jibes — 
"  Fables  and  fancies — writ  by  scribes  !  " 
And  yet  these  books,  by  mortals  writ  ; 
Oft-times  "  revised,"  by  mortal  wit ; 
Oft  in  dispute,  by  Christian  "mind" — 
These  "  tales  "  which  sundry  "  canons"  bind, 
Yet  bind  no  Christian's  heart — nor  Jew's — 
This  to  accept,  or  that  refuse  ; 
BOB  gulps  them  all  ! — from  Jonah's  whale, 
To  Tamar's  tricks,  and  Tobit's  tale  : 
All  Scripture  words,  all  Scripture  acts, 
Our  skeptic  lawyer  notes — as  "  facts  " — 


INJURE  SOUL.  31 

And  thus — to  show  his  legal  fitness — 
He  credits  an — "  opposing  witness  !  " 

Down  with  your  BIBLE  !  .  .  .  Wait,  Bob  !  wait ! 

What  PROOFS  are  yours,  of  things  you  state  ? 

Ogling  the  sun,  you  shout,  "  Absurd  ! — 

To  think  it  stopped  at  Joshua's  word  !  " 

Scanning  the  shade  Isaiah  saw, 

On  dial  reversed,  you  cry  out,   "  pshaw  !  " 

So,  then,  your  book-made  learning  pins 

YOUR  faith  to  Kepler's  word,  and  spins 

Your  suns  and  stars  by  Newton's  chart  : 

But,  when  MY  faith,  from  Christian  heart, 

Sees  heaven,  beyond  yon  starry  dome — 

Sure,  as  my  soul's  eternal  home — 

YOUR  CREED  you  claim  !  you  back  YOUR  hobby  ! 

But  won't  let  me  ride  mine  !  .  .  .  Eh,  Bobby  ? 

Scripture  you  quote  !  your  strident  breath 

Jeers,  when  you  quote  those  words  :   "  GOD  saith  !  " 

Just  are  your  jeers  ! — and  tears  were  meet — 

Blotting  those  words  from  Scripture  sheet ! 

For  ne'er  was  atheist  utterance  made, 

Nor  ever  a  falsehood  souls  bewrayed, 

More  dark,  more  dire,  with  damps  of  death, 

Than  those  two  lying  words — "Goo  saith  !  " 

When,  as  their  context,  words  we  read, 

Charging  on  GOD  some  rueful  deed — ! 


32  INJURE  SOUL. 

Or,  as  dim  lights  of  earthly  mind 
Toward  wrongs,  or  hates,  or  hurts,  inclined, 
Daring,  with  mind's  presumptuous  reach, 
EVIL,  in  the  name  of  good,  to  teach  !  " 

God  never  spake,  for  human  creeds, 
One  word  which  human  soul  misleads  ! 
God  never  voiced,  by  priest  or  seer, 
One  word,  which  souls  might  doubt,  Or  fear ! 
False  are  all  creeds,  however  based, 
Where  aims  and  ends  of  MEN  are  traced  ; 
Inhuman  ends — self-seeking  aims — 
Set  forth,  as  heaven's  exalted  claims  ! 

No  !  Thou  ETERNAL  ONE  !  whose  WORD 
Made  all  things  by  Thy  ONE  LIFE  stirred — 
Made  all  things  by  Thy  OXE  LIGHT  known  ! 
Ne'er  didst  Thou  abdicate  Thy  Throne  ! 
Sunk  were  my  reason,  in  errors  worse 
Than  dupes  of  Modern  Mind  rehearse, 
Could  soul  of  mine  accept  conceits 
Which  SCIENCE  oft  by  rote  repeats, 
And  preachers  prop,  for  pulpit  prinking, 
And  your  pert  polemist  calls — THINKING  ! 

THINK  !  what  is  Bob's  brain,  that  he  THINKS — 
More  than  a  mule's  brain — or  a  mink's? 


1XJURESOUL.  33 

If  it  be  only  dust — enwrought, 

For  a  man's  brain — to  yield  his  thought? 

If,  on  each  brain  of  dust  reflect, 

"  Will-power "  ALONE,   makes  ''INTELLECT" — 

What  is  Bob's  brain,  which  mink  or  mule 

May  not  co-mate,  with  Reason — at  School  ? 

But  the  man  knows — what  no  man  doubts — 
"  Mind  "  is  but  "Sense  " — for  lords  or  louts  ! 
While  flesh  may  feel  one  thrill  of  pain, 
MIND  is  that  thrill — made  known  to  brain  : 
Bob  lives  !  five  senses  owns  ! — or  ONE  sense  I 
Bob  dies  !    and  all  his  MIND  is ...  nonsense  ! 

Yea  !  the  man  knows  !  And,  if  he  rail, 

Let  him  make  haste  toward — "  Bloomingdale  !  " 

Where  "  lights  put  out''  are  flaring  still, 

\Vith  wildered  force  of  madman's  WILL  ! 

Yea  !  let  those  "  dead-lights'  "  Reason  advise, 

How  minds  of  mankind  "  think  out" — LIES  ! 

Let  maniacs  there,  with  king-like  strut— 

Lears  in  their  rags— make  Bob  their  butt  1 

Insane  philosophers  their  "  facts  " 

Cram,  for  his  use,  in  "  free  thought "  tracts  ! 

Crazy  inventors — Bob's  own  kind — 

Ready  to  match  him — "mind  "  for  "  mind  " — 

And,  for  this  earth,  so  "  botched,"  when  made, 

"Think  out"  a  new  one — with  BOB'S  aid  ! 


34  1NJURESOUL. 


FYTTE  THIRD. 

"  PRIESTHOOD  !  ''  this  priest  of  Baal  exhorts — 
"Hirelings  !  each  blind-fold  church  supports  ! 
PAID  for  their  preachings — all  and  each  !".... 
Well,  Bob  !  who  paysj'ow,  when  you  preach  ? 
When  your  "  new  church  "  hangs  out  its  lights, 
And  a  full  house  your  Reason  invites  ? 
When,  like  those  "  walking  gents" — your  peers- 
Lusty  of  legs,  for  dusty  cheers, 
You  tramp  your  saw-dust  ways,  for  fees  ; 
And  with  their  word — "go  as  you  please  !  '' 
Your  lungs  distend — your  lips  orate — 
'And  your  "  gate-money  "  shows — your  gait !  18 

I  lift  no  word  for  recreant  priest, 

Whose  bulk,  like  Bob's,  by  flesh  increased, 

"  Lards  the  lean  earth,"  what  hours  he  sweats 

His  "  holy  oil,  "  for  gold  he  gets  ; 

Gets,  for  no  gospel  preached  of  yore — 

When  BOANERGES  gospel  bore  ; 

But  for  some  sops-in-wine,  from  pyx, 

"  Doctored,"  with  secret  sins  to  mix  ; 

Sweet-bread  simonious,  crumb  by  crumb, 

And  "Dead  Sea  grapes,"  his  wine  to  stum  ! ..  . 


INJURESOUL.  35 

Nor  for  that  priest,  whose  gilded  brass, 
Amalgam  base,  for  gold  may  pass  : 
Pretentious  priest !  by  "  reasoning  "  known, 
Whose  crimes  his  "  reasoning"  friends  condone  ; 
Meshing  their  souls  in  "yams  "  he  spins, 
Of  "  heavenly  grace  "  for  fleshly  sins  ; 
His  GOD  so  good,  so  pure,  so  fond — 
All  souls  invoicing — "  spirits  in  bond  " — 
"  Duties  "  paid  on  them  all — "  church  dues  ! }> 
Charges  defrayed  by  "  auction'd  "  pews  ! 
Soft  seats,  for  earth  and  heaven  secured  ! 
"  Free  grace  !"  . .  .  "  life-policies"  assured  !  . . . 
"  Paul  plants  !" — Saint  Peter  flings  his  nets, 
World-wide — no  odds,  what  "  haul "  he  gets  : 
Shark,   shad,  or  shrimp— or  octopod — 
All  to  be  cured — preserved — for  GOD  ! .  . . 

So  sounds  that  "  sounding  brass  !" — so  rolls 
That  sounding  voice — confounding  souls  ! 
That  bulk  of  Mind  !  . .  .  affronting  CHRIST  ! 
With  Calvary's  blood,  for  all  shops  priced — 
And,  for  all  rogues,  REDEMPTION  wide  .  . . 
Cheap  ...  as  hot  cross-buns . . .  Eastertide  ! 

Whilome,  when  classic  Clement  donn'd 
His  bishop's  crown,  for  popes  beyond, 
Men  worshipped  GNOSIS,  and  enshrined 
KNOWLEDGE  as  god-head — "  throned  on  mind  !  "  . . . 


36  IXJL'RESOL-L. 

"Searching/'  to  "  find  out  GOD,"  theyguess'd 
A  HEAVEX,  in  space,  by  MIND  possessed-  - 
Girt  with  "emissive  light,"  and  girt, 
Likewise,  outside  of  Light,  with — dirt  ! 
Dirt,  breeding  demi-gods  !  who  form'd 
Earth,  and  yon  skies,  from  dirt — light-warm'd  ; 
Made  mankind,  bifold — light  plus  clod- 
Each,  as  his  light  lured,  fiend  or  god  ! .  . 
If  he  liked  light  best,  light  was  his—- 
Or dirt  ...  or  both . . .  might  share  his  kiss  !  .  . . 

So  dwells  this  "  Plymouth  pulpit  '•  sage — 
"  GNOSTIC  "  of  our  "Agnostic  "  age — 
Whose  prideful  light  wooes  LOVE  DIVINE, 
Mormon-like,  for  his — concubine  ! 

Sleep,  LYMAN  BEECHER  !     Erst  was  heard, 
O'er  Shawmut's  tri-mount  spires,  your  word  : 
When  "Park  street  church,"  by  FAITH  upreared, 
Fools,  as  your  "  Brimstone  Corner,"  jeered  ! 
Fools  helping  rogues  their  ways  to  win  ; 
Rogues  helping  fools  on  ways  of  sin  ; 
Till — in  yon  halls  of  HARVARD  helped — 
"GNOsis"  and  "Nous  "  Agnostics  whelped  ; 
And,  from  Socinian  lair,  leaped  out, 
Wehr-wolves  of  Darwinism — and  Doubt  !  .  . . 

Wherefore,  these  days,  with  bale  for  men, 
Beechers  and  Bobs  "give  mouth  "  again  ; 


IXJURESOUL.  37 

And  Beecher's  mouth,  by  Bob  is  kiss'd— 
As — "  CHRISTIAN  EVOLUTIONIST  !  "  . . . 

Fit  finis  to  finesse  !   m eet  end 

For  priest  foresworn  and  faithless  friend  ! 

End  of  his  MIND  !  .  .  .  .  with  caudle-cup, 

Still,  in  old  age.  for  "  sweets  "  held  up  ! 

Held  for  some  drops  this  world  may  squeeze, 

And  fancying  life's  red  wine,  in — lees  ; 

God  pity  him  ! — this  dying  preacher  ! — 

Dying  unshriven  ! Sleep  !  Lyman  Beechei  !  19 

Enough  !    let  priest  be  judged  as — priest ! 
Bread  may  be  soured  by  acrid  yeast ! 
And  church,  by  priest  ungodly  fed, 
May,  haply,  share  but  bitter  bread  ! 
Whereat  your  Bobs  and  Toms  condemn 
Trunk,  roots,  and  boughs,  for  blighted  stem  ! 
But  dumb  is  INJURESOUL,  when  tongue 
Inquires  why  Sabbath  bells  have  rung, 
All  Christian  years  ? — why  Moslems,  yet, 
Kneel,  under  voice  from  minaret  ? 
Why  Greeks  and  Romans,  in  their  days, 
Bowed,  as  they  witnessed  priestly  ways  ? 
Mute  are  your  Bobs  and  Toms,  on  cause 
For  "  mind  enthralled"  by  priestly  laws  ! 
No  hints  they  give,  of  church-light  old, 
Warming  poor  souls,  in  slaveries  cold  ; 


3  8  IXJIRESOUL. 

Of  priestly  precepts  lifting  hearts, 
O'er  toilsome  fields,  o'er  greedful  marts  ! 
Of  chorals  voiced,  and  incense  burned, 
What  hours,  full  oft,  toward  temple  turned, 
Child  walked  with  sire,  in  pious  ways, 
Even  in  those  old-world  heathen  days  ; 
When  all  sweet  virtues  beamed  in  stars, 
And  hearth-fire  light  illumed  its  lars ; 
And  even  a  foe  such  light  might  share — 
Protected  by  PENATES  there  !  .  .  -20 

No  !  INJUSESOUL  !  .  . .  not  hierarch 

First  fettered  MINDS  in  thraldom  dark  ; 

But  Bobs  and  Toms,  with  swords  in  hands, 

Bound  manly  limbs  in  servile  bands  ! 

When  CADMOS  rose,  and  snake-teeth  sowed, 

And  gift  of  BOOKS  on  men  bestowed  ; 

And  MIND,  as  REASON,  in  lawyer  brains, 

Made  title-deeds  for  slaves  in  chains  ; 

Made  bills  of  sales  for  stolen  soil, 

And  kingly  claims  to  fruits  of  toil  ; 

And  lordly  rights  o'er  rights  of  men  ; 

Till  hearts  were  pierced  by  sword  and  pen  ! 

Lawyers  made  laws,  by  bullies  backed  ; 

And  "  thinkers  "  thought,  while  heroes  hacked, 

Till  all  your  "  Schools" — from  Stoas  to  Sorbonnes — 

Left  "  minds  "  and  "  bodies  "  bowed  by  BOURBONS  ! 


INJURE  SOUL.  39 

Build  me  up  MANHOOD'S  CHURCH — my  way  ! 
Build  me  up  "  Church  and  State,"  this  day  ! — 
Merchants  and  marts,  with  shops  and  farms, 
And  MINDS  made,  for  all  ARTS — save  ARMS  ! 
And,  in  God's  Name !  this  Church  of  Man — 
Sharing  His  earth;  on  NATURE'S  plan — 
With  children's  hymns,  and  woman's  prayers  — 
Chasing  MALARIA  from  all  airs ! — 
One  LAW — all  Governments  above — 
"  Love  one  another.  .  .  God  is  Love  !".  . 
This  Church  shall  stand — as  Man's  reliance ! 
Smiling  at  INJURESOUL — and  Science  ! 

Would  INJURESOUL  such  church  commend  ? 

MANHOOD  its  AIM —  and  HEAVEN  its  END  !   . 

Would  Bob  confess  this  Church  sufficed  ? .  .  . . 

Then  must  his  REASON  accept  his  CHRIST  ! — 

For,  if  I  read  my  BIBLE  aright, 

Its  end,  its  Aim — through  heavenly  LIGHT — 

One  plan  interprets— Nature's  Plan  ! 

CHRIST,  as  His  CHURCH  ! — this  "Church  of  Man  !" 

CHRIST,  as  His  WORD — all  Creeds  above — 

"  Love  one  another  !.  .  .  .Goo  is  LOVE  !  " 

Greek  bards,  of  SATURN'S  "Golden  Age" 

Left  their  "ideas,  "  on  classic  page  : 

Of  sinless  maids,  and  simple  swains, 

So  quick  with  hearts,  and  slow  with  brains  ; 


40  IXJURESOUL. 

Love-books  they  share,  with  lambs  and  kids, 

Sweet  eyes  they  read,  with  kiss  on  lids  ; 

When  Strephon  sighs,  in  Chloe's  ears, 

Soft  syllables  she  faintly  hears — 

Conning  her  "  books,"  what  hours  she  spies 

Their  lights  in  Strephon's  loving  eyes  ! 

Tiieir  married  lips,  preluding  priest, 

Make  virgin  vows  for  marriage  feast  : 

Nor  courtships  close  with  nuptial  rite — 

From  years  to  years  their  vows  they  plight  : 

Undreamed  that  day,  by  swain  or  maid, 

Of  Bob's  or  Tom's  post-nuptial  aid — 

Aid  such  as,  now-a-days,  makes  love's  course 

"  Run  smooth  " — toward  lawyers. .  .and  "Divorce 

With  heart-strings  twined  each  tender  troth, 
Love,  in  each  heart,  made  LIFE — for  both  ; 
One  hope,  one  faith,  their  fond   decision  — 
Love-lives  to  live — in  "Fields  Elysian  !  " 

Well  !  was  it  nonsense  ?.  .  .  moonshine  mist  ? 

ENDYMION  dreams,  by  DIAN  kiss'd  ? 

Let  censors  carp  !  ...  My  Reason  assents  ! — 
Where  FAITH  confirms  what  LOVE  contents, 
Still,  in  this  world,  and  world  beyond, 
Fond  hopes  shall  reach  Fruition  fond  ! 
Nor  gospel  books  in  vain  I  search 
For  Saturn's  Age,  in  Christian  Church  ! 


INJURE  SOUL.  41 

Love-life  on  earth,  for  mortals  best, 
In  heaven  shall  make  immortals  blest  ! — 
Old  Heathen  hope.  .  .  old  Christian  trust  ! 
If  it  were  banished  ! .  .  .  welcome  dust  ! 

Greek  gods  were  thoughts  !  .  .  . .  Some  human  thought, 

By  bard  express'd,  by  sculptor  wrought, 

Gleamed,  as  a  marble  shape,  from  gates 

Of  Athens,  down  to  Sunium  Straits  : 

Virtues,  as  gods,  to  goodness  wooed  ; 

And  sculptured  vices  vice  subdued 

Impulses,  passions,  faults,  and  fears, 

Desires,  contritions,  prayers,  and  tears, 

Joys,  griefs,  and  graces — all  wrought  out, 

For  eyes  to  gaze  at — all  save  DOUBT  ! 

Tom  jeered,  and  Bob  ('tis  likely,)  scoff'd, 

With  cynic  hard,  or  Sybarite  soft ; 

But  the  "plain  people"  bowed  their  hearts, 

In  fields,  in  shops,  in  ships,  in  marts  ! — 

Minds  led  by  Reason,  on  by-ways  plodded — 

HEARTS,  in  yon  broad  blue  Heaven,  saw — GODHEAD  1 

'•'Humbug  !"  says  Bob  .  .  .  But  kneeling  Greeks 
Are  awed,  while  Voice  at  Delphos  speaks. 
''That  oracle  was  false  !"  cries  Bob  ; 
"  And  the  whole  '  racket '  a  '  put-up  job '  !  " 


42  INJURE  SOUL. 

But  if  those  ancient  Greeks  were  stirred 
By  Delphic  Voice,  as  Deity's  word  ; 
And  by  their  Greek  religion  moved, 
Repentant,  when  that  Voice  reproved  ; 
What,  then,  if  Greek  religion,  given 
By  Cecrops,  hailed  from  hell  or  heaven  ? 
Let  it  be  judged  by  things  it  taught — 
Whatso  on  human  lives  it  wrought ! 
Tell  us  what  prayers  at  shrine  were  prayed, 
For  earthly  peace — for  heavenly  aid  ; 
For  all  good  things  which  Right  may  share 
Yea,  and  for  patience,  Wrong  to  bear ! 
Tell  us  what  precepts  priesthood  gave  ; 
What  helps  for  poor — what  hopes  for  slave  ! 
Tell  us  what  Truth,  from  Orphic  lyre, 
Rained  upon  souls,  as  heavenly  fire  ; 
Truth,  with  its  deep,  mysterious  pith 
Concealed  in  geode  of  rugged  myth  : 
Tell  us — as  light  from  IRIS  tells — 
How  fires  are  stirred  where  moisture  swells  ; 
What  "facts  of  science,"  in  Labor's  murk, 
Shine  out  of  VULCAN'S  wondrous  work  ; 
When  with  his  Force,  all  things  to  tame, 
He  halts — like  human  laborers — lame  ! 

False  was  that  old  Greek  polytheism  !  .  .  . 
Yea,  Bob  !  .  .  .  but  never  AGNOSTICISM  ! 


INJURE  SOUL.  43 

' '  Agnosticism  !  " — No  verbal  coin 
Nonsense  to  sense  did  e'er  conjoin, 
Like  this  new  word,  which  lures,  to-day, 
Souls  from  all  shrines  of  Faith  to  stray  !  .  .  . 
"  ATHEIST  "  at  least,  to  corpse-like  wit, 
(Like  Hamlet's  graved  igger's, )  might  fit; 
And  a  poor  dolt,  who  bears  the  name, 
May  "reason  "  allege,  to  found  his  claim  ! 
But,  for  these  "  Know-nought  "  prigs,  whose  prates 
Patter  like  pence  on  pewter  plates — 
(When  to  church-air  their  sound  laments, 
That  sound  can  add  no  worth  to  cents  !)  — 
Agnostics  !  .  .  .  wherefore  dwell  such  dudes  ? — 
Skin-less,  like  eels,  which  knife  denudes  ! — 
Squirming  all  slime-ways  lamprey  squirms, 
Yet  still  denying  their  epiderms  ! 
Human  conundrums,  Bob  ! — past  doubt — 
"No  fellow,  weally,  can  find  out !  "  .  . . 
Glass-eyed,  doll-faced,  in  wax  designed- 
Stiff  at  their  loins,  but  caoutchouc-spined  ! 
Their  "  mind's  eyes  "  blind,  with  amaurosis, 
And  each  snub  nose  turned  up — at  GNOSIS  ! 

Agnosticism  ! —  as  if  man's  wits, 
Wind-blown,  could  bridled  be,  with  bits  ! 
When  WILL  itself  on  SENSE  awaits  ; 
Sense,  entered  through  ten  thousand  gates  ! 


44  INJURE  SOUL. 

"  AGNOSTIC  !" —  yea  with  sense  subjunct, 
Nerves  atrophied,  desires  defunct ! 
But  not  while  life  shall  light  retain, 
Imprint  on  "  volume  of  my  brain  !" — 
LIGHT,  by  an  idiot  not  less  wist ! 
Wind-woven  light,  by  senses  kiss'd  ; 
Fire-illumed  air-flows,  unconfined, 
Yielding  all  sentient  things  their — mind  ! 
Mind,  for  yon  troutling,  lured  to  fate — 
Mind,  for  that  writhing  worm,  its  bait  ; 
Mind,  for  this  protozoan — alert, 
With  cilia — yea,  this  lymph  inert, 
Which  stirs  beneath  my  searching  sight, 
Sentient,  in  microscopic  light  !  .  .  .  . 

"Pah  ! — 'tis  unconscious  life  which  stirs  !" 

Quickly  your  quibble  of  books  avers  ! 

What  shall  rejoinder  be  ? — not  caustic  ! 

Well,  then  !  let's  call  our  worm  — "  AGNOSTIC  !  "  21 

Greece  had  no  glass  eyes  ! — Grecian  sage 

Saw  stars,  as  Grecian  babe,  that  age  ; 

When  seers,  with  Nature's  mind — like  Job's — 

Pleiades  named,  nor  dreamed  of — "globes  ;  " 

No  glass  retort's  malarious  lees 

Showed  "  gas  " — for  Anaximines  ! 

No  "  eye-piece"  posed,  in  "  object  glass," 

"  Atoms  " — for  Anaxagoras  !  .  .  .  " 


IXJURESOUL.  45 

Yet,  in  good  sooth,  our  modern  lore 
By  many  a  Greek  was  pondered  o'er  ; 
By  many  a  Roman  was  dismiss'd, 
As  ' '  cranky  " . . . .  with  good  reason,  I  wist ! 

Greek  brains  or  Saxon  brains — what  odds  ? 
MIND  makes  your  cultus — makes  its  gods  ! 
Show  me  those  ancient  Greeks,  agreed, 
In  their  own  Greek  way,  on  ONE  Creed  ! 
In  their  Greek  way,  on  one  Idea — 
That  Jupiter  was  born  of  Rhea, 
And  Jupiter  was  GOD  ! .  .  . .  who  cares 
If  Bob  his  doubts  of  "  godhead  "  airs  ? 
Who  recks,  if  Jove  and  Rhea  be  myth 
Less  proved  than  Smithson  born  of  Smith  ? 
Still,  o'er  Olympian  hills,  and  higher 
Than  sun  and  stars,  shall  Greeks  aspire — 
Their  ZEUS  to  claim,  and  name,  and  frame  ; 
With  all  "god-attributes"  the  same  ! 

And  tribes  of  Greeks  shall  offerings  bring  ; 
And  tribes  of  Greeks  shall  poeans  sing  : 
And  the  ALL-FATHER,  o'er  each  shrine, 
Shall  answer  FAITH  with  LIGHT  DIVINE  ; 
Shall  answer  HOPE,  with  REST  above  ; 
Shall  answer  CHARITY — with  LOVE  ! 

Yea  !  I  believe  ! .  .  .  And  "Golden  Age  " 
No  seer  has  limned,  on  brightest  page, 


46  INJURESOUL. 

No  bard  has  sung,  in  sweetest  lays, 

Might  come,  for  these,  our  modern  days, 

Could  Christian  souls,  all  creeds  above, 

Break  bread  together,  in  Christian  love  ! 

If  souls  as  souls,  and  hearts  as  hearts, 

In  homes,  in  streets,  in  fields,  in   marts ; 

Minds  in  each  other's  eyes  to  read — 

Hearts  by  each  other's  lips  to  lead — 

Might  live  that  loving  life  which  waits, 

For  a  few  weeks,  on  married  mates  ; 

Till  the  poor  souls,  from  mutual-  thrills, 

Turn — to  "  make  up  their  minds  !" — as  WILLS  ! 

Wills  making  ways,  till  heart  from  heart — 

As  REASON  allures  it — walks  apart : 

With  WILLS  of  women,  and  WILLS  of  men  !  — 

So  the  world  wags  its  ways  again  !  .  .  . 

Love-lights  lit  up,  for  transient  glints, 

Quick-won,  quick-gone,  as  sparks  on  flints  ! 

' '  Ashes  of  roses  !  .  .  .  "  ash-fire  "  tame  ! .  .  . 

Sad  sequels  left,  of  sacred  flame  ! 

Wherefore  poor  Hymen  croons  his  dole, 

For  altars  reft  of  burning  coal  ; 

And  his  pure  torch-light  soon  expires  ! 

Wherefore  we  lose  rare  opal-fires, 

Sweet  human  souls  might  shed — through  MIND— 

If  lives  were  lived,  as  LOVE  designed  ! 

Bob  says  his  "  REASON  enthroned  "  aspires 
To  make  such  lives,  and  light  such  fires  ! 


1XJURESOUL.  47 

Give  him  carte  blanche,  he'll  soon  control 
"  Free  Minds  "  to  THINK — like  INJURESOUL  ! 

He'll  kill  all  creeds,  and  shame  all  shams  ; 

Sweet-hearted  wolves  shall  wet-nurse  lambs  ; 

Lawyers  file  pleas  in  courts  of  Love  ; 

Pot-politicians  brood — like  dove  !  .  .   . 

BOB  says  he'll  do  it ! — by  CHANCE  or  Mis-chance  !  . 

Bravo  !  Bob  !  ...  Do  it !  ...  We'll  all  be— CHRISTIANS  ! 

Oh  !  man  of  REASON  ! — His  hand  on  heart, 

And  his  tongue  tuned  to  sophist  art  ! 

He  talks  of  home-love  !  wife  love  !  joys  ! 

Felt  by  fond  sire  of  girls  and  boys  : 

He  vaunts — yea,  in  his  atheist  haunts — 

Of  his  own  skeptic  children,  vaunts  !  .  .  . 

Brags  of  his  boys,  by  Reason  illumed  ; 

And  of  his  girls,  as  flowers,  perfumed, 

With  all  sweet  scents,  which  Bob's  parterre, 

Under  Bob's  light,  may  yield  for  air !  — 

Kissing  his  rose-bud  babes,  who  sip 

Fond  love,  from  skeptic  mother's  lip  ; 

Love,  such  as  lips  of  woman  impart, 

With  never  a  prayer  to  stir  her  heart ! 

With  never  a  whispered  hope,  to  say  : 

"  Please  God  !  we'll  kiss  in  Heaven — some  day  ! '.  .  . 

All  the  old  gods  have  gone  !  .  .  .  Men  made 
Greek  gods  like  Greeks  !  .  .  .  God-making  trade 


4  »  INJURE  SOUL. 

Is  aptly  learned,  where  forgers  lurk, 

By  fire-damp  forge,  with  REASON  at  work  ! 

Four  thousand  years  ago,  Joe  Smith 

Had  thought  out  gods  from  Mormon  stith  ; 

Five  thousand  years  ago,  when  Bob 

In  Yemen  dwelt,  he  thought  out  OB  ! — 

And,  at  posterior  periods, 

Made  Syrian,  Grecian,  Roman,  gods  ! 

All  wrought  by  "  THINKERS  !" —  Bobs  about 

Scheming  with  Toms  !  to  stir  up  —  DOUBT  I 

Doubt  of  their  father's  patriarch  claim, 

On  household  shrine  to  kindle  Flame  ! 

Doubt  of  their  mother's  trust,  untaught  ! 

Beyond  her  husband's  prayerful  thought ! 

Doubt  of  their  sister's  faith  • —  that  FIRE 

Made  all  pure  things  toward  Heaven  aspire  ! 

Her  silver  lily  lamps  lit  up  ; 

Poured  red  light  in  her  rose's  cup  ; 

Her  jasmine  cressets  nightly  filled. 

With  fragrant  shine,  by  stars  distilled  ; 

And,  with  all  hues  of  sunset  tinge, 

Tinted  her  tulip's  turban  fringe  ; 

And,  with  all  glows  of  morn-light,  kiss'd 

Her  violet's  lips  of  amethyst  ; 

And  all  bright  stars  of  azure  skies 

Reflected  in  her  daisy's  eyes  !  .  .  . 

"  Child-fancies  !" —  INJURESOUL  may  say  ; 
And  why  should  Reason  her  reign  delay  ? 


INJURESOUL.  49 

When  Bob  was  there  —  and  Tom  ! — wise  louts  ! 
Flirting  at  FLAME  their  fire-damp  doubts  ! 

Tom  says  to  Bob  ;   "I  THINK  I'll  drop 
Connection  with  the  old  man's  shop  ! 
See  the  old  fool,  Bob  ! — on  his  knees  ! 
Not  any  prayer  for  me,  Bob  !  please  !  .  .  . 

I'm  a  FREE  THINKER  !" Soh  !  '  twas  hatched  ! 

EGG,  out  of  Reason  and  Mind  —  co- matched  ! 

Bob's  crude  conceit  —  from  Tom's  "  idea  !"— 

Egg  of  an  "  Isis,"  "  Nox,"  or  "  Rhea  !" 

And  Rhea  —  plus  Saturn  !  Mother  and  Sire  ! 

And  then  —  why,  then  ....  to  HELL  with  FIRE  ! 

To  HEAVEN  Apollo  ! —  Juno  ! —  Zeus  ! — 

Pluto  below — (to  "  play  the  Deuce  !  ") — 

Bacchus  for  Tom  ! —  Venus  for  Bob  ! 

Hesiod  historian  of  their  job  !  .  .  .  . 

A  New  Religion  —  based  on  DOUBT  !  .  .  . 

And  the  old  FIRE-GOD  — "  down  and  out  !  "  .  .  . 

Yea  !   Bobs  and  Toms  !  with  "  minds  advanced  !  " 
Played  the  old  god-game,  as  they  "chanced  !  " 
PRIEST  never  cast  off  coals  from  shrine  — 
Priest  never  quenched  his  Flame  Divine  : 
BOB  made  those  gods  of  sticks  and  stones, 
His  work — "  played  out" —  he  now  disowns  ! 

But,  when  he  "  thought  out"  marble  and  wood, 
That  old  FIRE  FAITH  was  ne'er  subdued  ! 


50  INJURESOUL. 

Priesthoods  he  named,  and  shrines  he  built, 
Ox-blood  and  sheep-blood  widely  spilt  ; 
But  the  OLD  FAITH  in  FLAME  survived  ; 
Where  nomads  roved,  or  nations  hived  ; 
Bob's  "  mind  "  for  each  new  god  found  name 
But  on  each  shrine  dwell  SACRED  FLAME  ! 
And  ever,  as  men  their  gods  adored, 
With  flames  upsoaring,  souls  upsoared  ! 
And  wheresoever  dwelt  worshipper, 
FIRE,  and  its  emblems,  worshipped  were  !  23 


INJURE  SOUL.  51 


FYTTE  FOURTH. 

How  grandly  low  I    how  broadly  bright, 
This  arch-way,  under  walls  of  Night, 
Whereunto  bows  fond  mother's  heart, 
When  cradle's  lace  her  lips  dispart, 
And  on  her  sleeping  babe's  repose, 
Her  prayerful  breath  like  fragrance  flows  ! 
Gateway  of  faith  !  this  cradle's  arch, 
Where  infant  thoughts  begin  their  march  1 
Well  were  it  willed  by  manly  men, 
If  childly  minds  were  theirs  again  ! 
Well,  if  our  lofty  LIGHT  might  know 
LOVE — like  a  mother's !— grandly  low  ! 

FIRE  FAITH  of  old !  .  . .  How  simply  taught 
PRAYER — in  ascendant  FLAME — its  thought ! 
That  FLAME  which  erst  Pythagoras  felt, 
When  with  Egyptian  sage  he  knelt, 
And  in  Crotonian  shades  concealed, 
His  "  Central  Flame 7>  by  Heaven  revealed  ! 
Oh  !   not  for  nought,  from  age  to  age, 
From  clime  to  clime,  from  sage  to  sage, 
From  cult  to  cult,  from  pen  to  pen, 
Descends  and  dwells  this  LIGHT  with  men  ! 
Oh  !  not  for  nought,  o'er  earliest  shrine, 
Spirals  upllamed,  as  tongues  divine  : 


52  1XJURESOUL. 

Tongues  without  words  ! — nor  words  required, 
When  souls,  with  mounting  flames,  aspired. 

Diverse  as  minds,  have  human  clans 
Made  "  gods  " — for  blessings  and  for  bans  : 
But  with  ONE  FAITH  o'er  all  !— that  FIRE 
Ascends,  where   HUMAN    HOPES  aspire  ! 

Skeptic  ! — with  fire-damp  on  your  lips, 
You  mould  your  mind  to  quibbling  quips ! 
You  paint  your  pottery  with  all  hues 
Bright  sunshine  sheds  on  tinted  dews  ; 
And,  with  ceramic  skill,  all  days, 
You  fire-gild,  under  fire-damp  blaze  ! 
Yea  !    with  your  mental  heats,  you  print 
Fire-damp  on  rhetoric,  till  it  glint ! 
But,  Bob!  . . .  that  phosphor  of  your  brain — 
Rocket-shot,  for  pyrotic  rain — 
Whence  is  it,  when  you  call  it — wrr? 
Whither  its  way,  Bob  ? . .  .  Follow  it  ! ... 
And  with  your  brain-pan  upward  turned, 
Show  me — what  no  man  yet  discerned — 
Pathway  of  LIGHT,  by  nerve  or  brain, 
Aught  than  by  wire's  electric  vein  : 
Path  out  of  brain,  for  MIND  it  makes, 
Aught  than  for  likeness  limner  takes  ; 
When,  with  an  ink  of  iodine, 
LIGHT  prints  your  features,  line  by  line  !  .  .  . 


1NJURESOUL.  53 

Follow  your  brain-light  Bob  !  and  if — 

Like  photograph  or  logogryph — 

Your  l<  reason  enthroned ''  some  NEWS  would  write, 

Tell  us  why  every  atom  of  light, 

In  all  yon  heaven  of  air,  still  floats, 

A  ' '  common  carrier, "  Bob  !  —  of  motes  I 

And,  if  you  question  why  I  ask, 

I'll  answer,  that  no  mote  could  bask 

In  beam,  nor  ever  an  atom  of  aught 

Save  heavenly  LIGHT,  subsist  in  THOUGHT, 

Till  Bobs  and  Toms,  at  THINKING  trade, 

In  yon  pure  heaven  MALARIA  made  ! 

Poisoned  all  airs,  by  poisoning  breath, 

All  quick  seed  sowed  with  germs  of  death, 

All  soils,  all  seas,  all  AIRS,  to  smite, 

And  FIRE-DAMP  make,  from  HEAVENLY  LIGHT  ! 

Tom  Paine  is  dead  ! "  Poor  Tom's  a-cold  !  ' 

But  his  light  lurks  o'er  grave-yard  mould  ; 
His  corpse-light,  saltant  still,  from  crypt 
Of  "  dead  men's  bones,"  to  glare  in  script ; 
Or  print — on  brain  so  dark  that  ink 
Its  murk  illumes — those  words  :  "  I  think  !  " 

"  COGITO  !  ERGO  SUM  !  "  ....  Sad  psalm  ! 
Sad  summing  up.  ..."  I  THINK  ! — I  AM  !  " 
Bewildered  thought  SPINOZA  spoke, 
Ere  his  poor  heart,  mind-ridden,  broke, 


54  INJURESOUL. 

When  from  Cartesian  ink  he  made 

All  the  "  white  light  "  his  Reason  arrayed  : 

Then,  like  DBS  CARTES,  of  DEITY  reft, 

Doubted,  and  died  ! — his  MIND  still  left, 

Aslant,  with  blurred,  strabismic  glint ! 

Through  German  mind,  and  German  print ! — 

So  dunce  in  gown  may  boast  he  thinks 

Long  words,  by  nouns,  like  sausage-links  ; 

And  bursch,  bestriding  beer-keg,  leer 

Through  ground-glass  eyes,  and  shout — "  More  beer !  . . 

Free  thinkers  we  !  For  TRUTH  we  fight  ! 

£>er  Slftenfd)  ift  ©ott !  . .  .  More  beer  !— More  LIGHT  !  ' 

"Who  drinks  beer,  thinks  beer  !".  .  .  Cynic's  word  ! 

Nor  without  reason  of  cynic,  stirred  ! 

When  Mind,  acclaimed  as  "German  Mind," 

To  axis  tied,  like  mill-horse  blind, 

Drops  from  its  nose-bag  corn  to  plant, 

From  grist,  as  old,  and  sour  as — KANT  ; 

While  the  old  mildewed  mill-wheel  drips 

Bavarian  beer,  for  burschen  lips  ; 

And  the  old  bursch  (betimes  Herr  Graff, ) 

Still  drinks  his  corn,  and  thinks  his  chaff ! 

So  much  for  "  GERMAN  MIND  !  " What,  then,  sir  ? 

What's  English  Mind  ? Ask  HERBERT  SPENCER  ! 

Yea  !  ask  ! .  .  .and  if,  to  help  your  sight, ' 
In  boastful  "Nineteenth  Century  Light," 


INJURE  SOUL.  55 

Bob  INJURESOUL  shall  thrust  his  torch 

Through  shadows  of  some  temple-porch  ; 

Flirting  his  fire-damp,  till  it  drips 

On  pulpit  where  some  skeptic  skips — 

Well  !  'tis  but  bartery  !  Bob  shall  send 

Fire  back,  for  fire  which  pulpits  lend  : 

When,  with  their  "  New  Lights  "  flaring  far, 

Fire-damp  they  flaunt  at  Bethlehem  Star  ! 

Fire-damp  they  fizzle  at  Sinai's  Flame — 

Tuum  est,  Bob  ! — Fire-damp  ! File  your  claim  \ 

Ask  Herbert  Spencer  !— Huxley  ask  ! 
From  English  "  Free  Thought "  tear  each  mask  ; 
Featured  in  fashion  of  modern  church, 
Pinning  its  FAITH  to  pulpit  perch  !  .  . . 

Yea  !  of  your  parish  priest  inquire, 

What  baleful  blare,  of  doctrines  dire, 

Frightens  poor  souls,  as  yet  unsoiled — 

While  monstrous  things,  which  erst  gargoyled 

Only  an  outside  wall,  now  grin, 

Ghastly,  your  Christian  church  within  ! 

Doctrines  in  heaven's  affront  extant 

This  day,  out-mouthing  atheist  rant — 

Out-brazening,  in  oppugnant  war, 

On  Scripture  questionless  before, 

All  atheist  slander,  sent  to  jag  us, 

Since  Bob  wore  mask,  as  SIMON  MAGUS  ! 


56  INJURE  SOUL. 

God  help  us  !.  .  .  Sixty  centuries  count 

Lost  years,  from  Time's  primeval  Fount  ! 

And,  in  their  runs  and  races,  brains 

And  minds  have  bred  !  .  .  .  but,  with  what  gains  ? 

Brains  breeding  books,  in  minds  of  men  ; 

Books  breeding  minds  from  brains  again  ! 

Brain  unto  brain,  breed  unto  breed  ; 

An  ' '  Age  of  Reason  !  "  at  last,  to  lead  ; 

And  our  poor  Race,  on  race-course  sod, 

Brain-ridden  by  REASON — astray  from  GOD  ! 

And  never  an  Age  was  known,  I  wot, 
Riper  than  ours,  for  ruin  and  rot ! 
And  never  a  race-course,  run  for  gold, 
Was  staked,  like  ours — to  be  OUT-SOULED  ; 
When  its  last  limping  league  is  lapped  ; 
And  its  last  man  lies  handicapped  ; 
And  its  LAST  JUDGE  awards,  one  day, 
"  The  Devil  his  dues,"  and  "  Hell  to  pay  !" 

Race-course  of  REASON  ! Arena  wide, 

For  race  with  race  to  wriggle  and  ride  ! 
Monkeys  and  men,  for  equal  stakes, 
Entered,  abreast  with  toads  and  snakes  ! 
All  flesh,  all  fish,  all  creeping  things, 
Matched,  for  this  race  toward  Psyche's  wings  : 
Each,  when  its  legs  shall  goal  afar  win, 
Promised  BOB'S  MIND,  and — SOUL  of  DARWIN  ! 


INJURE  SOUL.  57 

SOUL  for  such  Race  [—"evolved  "  from  brute  ! 
And  in  brute  kinds  kept  involute  ! — 
Soul,  that  in  shell-cell  of  zo-oid  ; 
Soul,  that  in  embryo  spermatoid, 
Soul,  that  from  no  primordial  source, 
Save  slime,  self-seminate,  drew  force  ; 
Unless — to  seed  down  SOUL  in  worms, 
GOD  entered  embryo  zoo-sperms  ; 
GOD  became  larvae — sex  and  sex — 
And  venomous  insects,  multiplex  ! 

Of  His  Own  Will to  make  this  earth 

His  Anima  Mundi ! . . .  .birth  on  birth, 
Procreate  to  die — yet,  from  its  grave, 

Resurgent — with  a  SOUL  to  save ! 

This  the  New  Word,  by  Beecher  wist — 
Our — "  CHRISTIAN  Evolutionist !  " —    ** 

SOUL  !  for  that  draggle  of  DARWIN  !  chipp'd 

From  eggs  in  vapory  void,  and  slipped 

Through  seas  of  sjime,  toward  genesis  : 

To  crawl  in  snail — in  snake  to  hiss ; 

As  owl  to  hoot,  as  wolf  to  bark  ; 

And  to  devour,  as  swine  and  shark  ; 

Till,  with  a  leap,  from  crouching  ape, 

Beast  enters  man,  in  DARWIN  shape  ! 

Matter,  from  mire  and  mollusk  wrought, 

DARWIN  "  evolved  !  " — with  Darwin  thought  ! — 


58  INJURE  SOUL. 

"  Progress!"  and  "  March  of  Mind  !" — from  flux 

Serose   GOD  help  us  !    ..."  FIAT  Lux  !" 

"  Progress  !  " — through  spume,  and  spoor,  and  spawn, 

Self-sprent,  for  bestial  bone  and  brawn  ; 

Self-shent,  for  heats  of  pulsing  vein, 

From  saurian  spine  to  simian  brain  : 

Till  the  last  laps  gorillas  ran, 

And  the  last  beast  "evolved  "  was — MAN  ! 

Man  !  by  all-procreant  pulp  designed, 

To  "eat,  drink,  love  !  " — and  breed — New  Mind  ! 

DARWIN  ! What  protoplasm  of  mud 

Corpuscles  gave,  for  Calvary's  blood? 
What  bestial  broods,  through  DAVID'S  line, 
"  Developed,"  arose — as  MAN  DIVINE? 
"  GOD-MAN  !  " — whose  WORD  for  us  was  said  : 
"This  is  my  BODY  ! — 'tis  your  BREAD  !".... 
So  now,  good  souls  communion  make — 
Bread-sharing — for  their  SAVIOUR'S  sake ! 
Yea  ! — with  His  sweet  WORD  understood — 
Sharing  His  EARTH — in  BROTHERHOOD  ! 

Is  it  "  MATERIALISM  "  I  note  ? 

Is  it  "  MATERIALISM  "  I  quote  ? 

When,  with  Saint  PAUL,  mine  eyes  are  seeing  : 
"  In  HIM  we  live  ! — MOVE  ! — have  our  BEING  ! " 

Darwin  is  dead  !  In  dust  he  sleeps  ! 
His  dust  a  Christian  church-pile  keeps  ; 


INJURESOUL.  59 

All  that  is  left  of  him,  good  sooth  ! 
If  gospel  that  he  spake  were  truth  ! 
Dean  STANLEY,  o'er  the  dead  man's  dust, 
Recalled  his  FAITH — his  "Christian  Trust !''... 

But  if  he  owned  a  SOUL,  which  owned 

GOD-HEAD,  o'er  heaven  and  earth  enthroned  ; 

If — before  all  his  seas  of  slime, 

And  all  their  spawn  of  grume  and  grime, 

And  all  their  monstrous  progenies — 

His  Faith  discerned  Divine  Decrees  ; 

How  could  his  REASON  escape  from  thought 

More  monstrous  than  the  shapes  he  sought  ? 

That  the  OMNIPOTENT  WILL  had  shent 

His  God-Soul  into  slime — had  lent 

His  God-Life,  to  make  monsters  live  ? 

Yea,  His  IMMACULATE  LIFE — to  give 

Birth  unto  Matter  of  bestial  life  ; 

Life  to  devour,  in  dreadful  strife  ; 

Till  the  last  saurian  shape  dies  out  ; 

And  Huxley  heaps  its  bones,  . . .  and  DOUBT 

Handicaps  REASON — at  Darwin's  goal  : 

And  the  Devil  appears . .  . .  as  INJURESOUL  ! 

Doctrine  for  Christians !  Doctrine  sped 
From  clime  to  clime,  these  days,  and  spread, 
From  church  to  church  !  . . .  and  yet  no  schism 
Voices  that  word— "  MATERIALISM  !  " 


60  IXJURESOUL. 

That  word  so  dread  for  tender  souls, 
Whose  wings  of  bats,  and  eyes  of  moles, 
Flop  up  to  stars,  squint  into  mud  ; 
Whose  lips  salvation  preach,  through  blood  ; 
Preach  CHRIST  INCARNATE  !  yet,  with  fright, 
Shrink  back  from  flash  of  gospel  light! 
Shrink  from  that  LIGHT  for  blinded  eyes, 
Which  erst  were  oped — in  glad  surprise — 
When  CHRIST  anointed  them — with  clay — 
And  MIND  its  MAKER  knew  that  day  ! . .  . 

Blind  BARTIMEUS  !  your  Christian  trust 

Is  mine! . .  .  My  GOD  I  see — through  DUST  ! 

"  DARWIN  "  ("  Dean  Stanley  "  sighed)  "  is  dead  !  '* 
Dead  is  Dean  STANLEY  !  . . .  Seals  of  lead, 
Haply,  may  press  down  pulp  of  brains  ; 
But  REASON  arises,  above  all  chains  ! 
Wings  out  of  lead  she  plumes,  and  pipes 
Phoenix-song,  with  her  printer's  types  ! 
Bob  "sized"  his  job,  when  "Reason  enthroned 
On  the  world's  Mind/'  as  god  he  owned  ! 
Shrewd  Bob  !  who  cocks  his  eyes  at  books 
Which  Christian  preachers  quote — and  looks, 
Askance,  at  skeptics  on  their  knees  ; 
And  winks. .  .  (like  Mephistopheles  !) .  .  . 

And  if  Bob  sneers,  when  Christian  pews 
Tenantless,  here  and  there,  he  views  ; 


INJURESOUL.  6 1 

And  if  he  smiles,  when  Christian  book 
Helps  him,  with  slurs  at  Pentateuch  ; 
And  if  he  grins,  when  Christian  priest 
Accepts  himself  half-man  half-beast  ; 
Laugh,  ATHEIST  !  and  your  REASON  extol  !  .  . . 
Skeptics  !  exult !  . .  . .  Laugh,  INJURESOUL  !  25 

Race-track  of  DARWIN  !   widest  course, 

Lapp'd  in  all  years,  by  man  or  horse  ; 

"  Pedigrees !"  "  books  !  "  and  "  field  !"  fore-stalled  : 

"  Studs  "  in  full  start,  ere  TIME  was  called  ! 

What,  now,  if  REASON  of  his — escaped 

From  flesh — survive,  in  MIND  he  shaped? 

Shall  it  race  on,  with  life's  intents, 

Hot-pressed,  as  foolscap  filaments? — 

Their  fungous  sporules  apt  again 

To  breed  fresh  MIND  in  brains  of  men  !  .  .  „ 

Sooth ly  I  say !  ,  .  .  Who  says  me  nil, 

Denies  Darwinian  progress-mill ! 

All-procreant  PULP  its  ways  may  wind — 

Subsuming  moulds,  subtending  mind  : 

Pulp  to  conceive,  and  Pulp  to  plan— 

Mud  and  Mammalia  ! — Mind  and  Man  ! 

Donkey  and  Darwin  ! .  ..why  not  ink — 

Pens — paper  ! — and  some  pulp,  to  THINK  ? 

Light  badinage  !    for  subject  sad  ! 
Yet  in  this  light  age  not  so  bad  : 


62  INJURE  SOUL. 

Bad  light  for  sad  light  still  shows  way  ; 
As  foetid  fumes  precede  decay  : 
Sad  light  enough  is  ours — from  wombs 
To  graves — like  moonshine  showing  tombs  ; 
Moonshine  from  cloud-rift — gloom  and  gleam- 
Till  earth  like  moon-lit  grave-yard  seem  !  — 
Wise  minds  are  mirthful  !  Griefs  enough, 
With  frowns  of  brows,  our  joys  rebuff  ! 
Wherefore,  with  sense,  might  INJURESOUL, 
Make  his  wit  wise — not  less  than  droll  ; 
Forefending  doleful  day  forenenst  him  ; 
Hell- fire  no  joke  !  and — "  laugh  against  him  ! 

Light  versus  dark — Life  against  Death  ! — 
"Eat  honey  ! "  wise  king  Solomon  saith  : 
"  Eat  of  it,  son  !  because  'tis  good  !  "  .  .  . 
So,  by  the  bees  well  understood, 
Seeking  for  sweet-bread  makes  them  wise  ; 
So,  with  white  wax,  they  thicken  thighs, 
And  sip  up  serous  flows  of  flowers, 
Featly  effusing  sweets  from  sours  ! 
Wherefore  wise  wits  resemble  bees — 
Wooing  bright  WISDOM — on  their  knees  !  .  .  . 
And,  if  my  words,  light-laden,  lilt, 
As  flimsy  foil,  on  lance  in  tilt — 
And  if  I  lightly  poise  my  lance — 
Yet  is  my  FIGHT  still — "a  I '  outrancel" 


INJURESOUL.  63 


FYTTE  FIFTH. 

Wolf-eyes  in  wolf-den,  dimly  seen  ; 

Lynx-eyes,  in  greenwood,  softly  green  ; 

Eyes  of  all  seers  of  light  may  gleam, 

Repugnant,  or  with  winsome  beam  ! 

Eyes  are  but  orbs,  for  man  or  lynx  ; 

Tis  brain,  behind  them,  throbs,  and— THINKS  ! 

Yea  !  in  each  lynx-brain,  as  in  man's, 

'Tis  LIGHT  by  brain  reflect,   which  plans  ; 

Plans  and  preludes — or,  with  quick  thrill, 

Lightning-like,  "  makes  up  mind  " — as  WILL  ! 

Brain  lobe  and  brain  lobe,  batteries  twain  ; 

Twain  every  nerve-pair,  coiled  in  brain  ; 

Twain,  as  in  twins  of  SIAM,  each  pair — 

Yet,  as  two,  woven  in  one,  they  bear 

Glows  of  electric  heats — their  LIGHT  ! — 

Quick,  as  when  steel  on  stone  you  smite  ! 

Even  as  quick  heats,  from  acid  fires, 

Burn,  with  an  unseen  light,  on  wires  : 

Or,  from  discarded  cinders,  pass 

Through  leagues  of  tubes,  to  gleam — as  gas  !    2* 

Tell  me,  ye  "  minds  advanced  !  *'  .  .  .  Discourse, 
FARADAY  !    and  make  answer,  MORSE  ! 


64  1XJURESOUL. 

If,  now,  as  SOULS  OF  LIGHT,  ye  live — 
Whence  are  these  unseen  heats,  which  give 
Light,  to  make  words  on  wires  outspeed  ? 
Light  to  make  prints  of  thoughts  we  read  ; 
Light  of  our  music — and  light  of    art ; 
And  light,  from  veins,  to  stir  each  heart  ; 
And  light  from  nerves,  when  vein  and  vein, 
Heat-kissed,  distend,  with  mind  and  brain  ? 
When  eye-balls  shine,  and  arteries  throb — 
Heart  swells  !  and. . .    "  BRAVO  !  well  done,  BOB  ! 

Bob  did  it  all  !  .  .  .  His  force  of  WILL — 
Power  of  ideas  !  forensic  skill : 
Mind-making  heart-throbs  !    Reason  on  high, 
Enlightening  brain,  and  lightening  eye  ! 
This  MORTAL  !  dying  as  dust,  to-night — 
He  makes  his  LIFE  !  . . .   he  makes  his  LIGHT  ! .  . . 
And  the  man's  REASON,  in  grand  reliance, 
Says  it  is  BRAIN-POWER  ! ...  So  says — SCIENCE  ! 

Power — 'tis  a  word  so  easily  said  ! 
Light ! — 'tis  a  sheen  so  softly  shed  ; 
Beaming  by  days,  on  door-sill  bright, 
Nor  welcome  less  in  beams  by  night  ; 
Nor,  when  it  gleams  in  shining  stars, 
More  distant  than  in  fire-grate  bars  !  .  . . 
One  Fount,  exhaustless,  yielding  spires, 
For  lambent  heats,  and  fulgent  fires  ; 


IXJURESOUL.  65 

ONE  SOURCE,  all  circling,  shimmering  rays 
For  sapphire's  glow,  and  bonfire's  blaze  ; 
ONE  INFINITE  LIGHT  !  Eternal  WOMB — 
Whence  Life,  Love,  Power,  all  things  illume  ; 
And  whence — His  Universe  to  frame — 
HE  came,  who  spake  from  Sinai's  flame  ! 

STARS  !  in  your  courses  ! — and  thou  SUN  ! 
Circling,  to  shine  all  climes  upon  ! 
Might  ye  your  astral  mysteries  write, 
For  seers  of  stars,  with  SINAI'S  LIGHT  ; 
How  would  this  Light  of  ours,  from  ink, 
Vanish,  and  all  our  book-pulp  shrink  ! . . . 

Then  would  sweet  childhood's  Faith  make  wise  ; 

And  Reason,  as  WISDOM,  heavenward  rise  ! 

Child-eyes,  once  more,  in  old-time  ways, 

See  dancing  suns,  on  Easter  days  ; 

While  GRAVITY — by  jokes  upset — 

Kissing  "  Cohesion  " — (sad  coquette  !) 

And  kissed  by  her,  with  wifely  love, 

Might  leave  sweet  stars  to  laws  above  ; 

Nor,  with  confused,  inconstant  action, 

Divorce  "  Repulsion  "  from  "  Attraction  !  " 

Well  !  is  it  quibble  or  quirk  of  wits — 
Tike  Bob's — I  write,  and  cry  Bob  quits  ?. . . 


66  INJURESOUL. 

Shall  I  my  jingling  coins  of  words 
Flip  up — as  Bob  at  SCRIPTURE  girds  ? 

No  !  gracious  LIGHT!  .  .     Ifliltofmine 
Turn,  but  one  step,  from  touch  of  thine, 
Weak  were  mine  eyes,  and  faint  my  heart, 
Conscious,  through  FAITH,  of  ALL  thou  art ! 
For  though  my  humor,  as  reason  avers, 
May  game-cock  spur,  when  game-cock  spurs, 
My  ways,  from  Bob's,  are  wider  apart 
Than  earth  from  Mars,  on  stellar  chart : 
And  if,  with  wanton  will,  these  days, 
Snake-like,  he  coiled  not  in  my  ways  ; 
If,  by  his  sibillate  breath  eject,    . 
His  froth  had  not  my  pathway  flecked, 
Ne'er  had  I  written,  as  cap  for  scroll, 
Name  of  ill-portent  ..."  INJURESOUL  !  " 

Tired  of  some  playthings  Manhood  drops, 

As  children  throw  down  dolls  and  tops  ; 

Fond  of  some  other  toys  men  keep, 

Like  children,  till  they  drop  to  sleep  ; 

Heedful,  some  hour,  of  hearse  which  pass'd, 

Or  of  "  dead  march  "  with  "  flags  half-mast ; 

John  Doe  observes,  to  Richard  Roe  : 

"  Well,  well !  THAT  road  we  ALL  must  go  !" 

And  Richard  nods,  with  visage  glum, 

And  mutters,  "  Yes !  OUR  turn  will  come  !  '  .  , 


IXJURESOUL.  67 

And  the  next  thought  these  "  thinkers  "  think, 
Is,  "  John,  suppose  we  have — a  drink  !  " 
Then,  with  a  drink  their  night  begun — 
"  Let's  go  hear  INJURESOUL — for  fun  ! " 

'Tis  an  old  story !  Bob  with  Tom 
"MiND  making,"  in  all  Christendom! 
LIKE  unto  LIKE  still  quickly  draws  ; 
All  things  subserving  Nature's  laws. 

Dick,  without  John  could  scarcely  think  ; 
Tom  sings,  with  Bob,  like  bob-o'-link! 
"Like  unto  like!"  ....    Tis  PRIMAL  LAW! 
Caw  !  croaks  your  rook,  and  crows  all  caw  : 
Each  "  reasoning  "  crow  conclusion  draws — 
Yet  none,  for  croaks,  assign  "  first  caws  !".... 

So  your  sly  raven,  alert  with  "  mind,  " 

Gets  himself  cawcus'd  by  his — kind  ; 

Cocks  his  wise  eyes,  with  sidewise  head — 

His  "nest  well  feathered,"  crop  well  fed — 

Croaks  o'er  his  crony  crows,  by  night, 

All  hours,  till  cock-crow  welcomes  LIGHT  : 

And  your  poor  bat-blind  birds,  with  blink, 

"  Make  up  their  minds  "  to  flit — and  THINK  !  .  .  . 

Self- same  effects  from  "  cause  "  are  BOB'S  ! 

Crows  and  free-thinkers  croak  in  mobs  ; 

As  cats,  by  nights,  on  out-house  flats, 

"  Makeup  their  minds,  "  and  make  more  cats! 


68  INJURE  SOUL. 

Shape  me  some  curious  clock-work  thing ! — 
Like  human  nerves,  make  spring  with  spring  : 
Fire-force  give  heart,  and  breath  give  lung  ; 
Give  cunning  hands,  and  craft  of  tongue  ; 
AIL  helps  for  organism  designed — 
Could  you  endow  that  thing  with  mind  ?  " 

Brightly  on  burnished  brass,  all  days, 
Even  wintry  sunshine  seems  to  blaze  : 
But  when  through  airs  no  light-rays  pass, 
What  sheen  shall  shine  on  front  of  brass  ? 
Shut  Bob  from  books — his  memory  marred  — 
His  mind  from  all  SENSATION  barred — 
Where,  then,  those  LIGHTS,  his  brain  to  prink  ? 
Where  would  be  Bob's  brave  boast — •  "  I  THINK  ? 

When  copperas,  in  your  battery  burns, 
With  zinc-bloom — and  your  SCIENCE  learns 
To  write  out  thoughts,  in  sulphide  fires — 
Connecting  brains  by  cable-wires — 
Tell  us  what  makes  "  ideas  "  for  Watts, 
Morse,  Fulton — and  all  other  "  thoughts  ?  " 

Are  sulphide  fires,  from  vapory  rift, 

Shot  suddenly  as  lightning  swift  ? 

What  is  this  Power  of  Mind  which  stirs 

"  Great  men,  "  and  great  men's  wurshippers  ? 


INJURE  SOUL.  69 

What  motive-power,  on  student's  brain, 
"Like  lightning,  "  makes  his  problem  plain  ? 
What  is  it,  upon  this  mind,  or  that, 
Thrills,  as  musician's  "  sharp"  or  "flat" — 
Quivers,  as  painter's  shade  or  light? — • 
Flashes  for  bard  some  image  bright, 
Or,  for  a  child,  makes  queer  conceits  ? 
Is  it  from  sulphides  ?  copperas  heats  ? — 
In  heart,  lung,  liver,  and  pulsing  brains  ? 
So  that,  while  HEAT  glows,  MIND  remains  ? 

Tell  me,  if  ever  an  arctic  chill 
Could  cramp  a  traveller's  homeward  will  ? 
Or  if  an  ice-cold  shiver  of  death, 
While  it  yet  spared  his  lapsing  breath, 
Could  quench  in  brain  this  mental  spark, 
Conscious  of  LIGHT — till  all  grows — dark? 

Why  is  it,  on  dissolution's  brink, 
While  conscious  life  remains — you  THINK  ? 
And  your  last  thought — or  prayer  or  scoff — 
Stops  with  your  final  breath — choked  off  ? 

What  makes  ?  what  takes  ?  and  why  do  breath, 
Pulse,  heart-beat,  brain-light,  wait  for  death  ? — 
Instant  their  lapse — all  gone,  together  : 
Gone ! — and  your  REASON  exuded  !  .  . .  .  Whither  ? 


70  L\JURESOUL. 

Men's  minds!  ....  Six  thousand  years,  or  less, 
Have  cocked  up  "Inner  Consciousness!" 
Perked  up  and  prankt  out  minds  of  men, 
With  tricks  of  speech,  and  tricks  of  pen  : 
And  still — from  MIND'S  ideal  deeps- 
Greek  "NOUS"  or  German  "GEIST"  up  creeps; 
Pedants  entwisting  thoughts  on  brains, 
As  worms  encyst  their  silken  skeins  ; 
And  still  each  dying  brain- worm  weaves, 
With  leaves  of  books  for  mulberry  leaves  ; 
And  brain-worms  crawl  from  mind  to  mind, 
And  still  their  silken  shrouds  they  wind  : 
From  lands  to  lands  they  leave  their   trails  ; 
Devouring  their  own  dead — like  snails  ! 

Grey  pulp  of  brain — lobe  lapping  lobe! 
Come,  with  your  skill,  O  !    surgeon  ! — probe 
These  ganglia  of  a  brain-pan  cleft  ; 
And  tell  what  tracks  o(  thoughts  are  left ! 
What  prints  of  Caesar's  mind  remain  ; 
What  quips  and  quirks  of  Yorick's  brain  ?.  .  . 

Adown  that  gland  your  scalpel  glides  ; 
This  optic  nerve  your  fleam  divides  ; 
Your  lens  is  laid  on  turgid  mesh 
Of  knotted  nerves  and  flaccid  flesh  ; 
Your  mind  intent,  your  searching  gaze, 
Patient  to  pierce  posthumous  maze  !  .  .  . 


1NJURESOUL. 

Labyrinth  of  Brain  !  .  .  .  But  where  is — Mind  ? 
What  trace  of  Thought,  by  Thinkers  lined, 
From  books  to  brain,  from  brain  to  books  ? . . . 
Ah  !  you  may  scrape  these  cranial  nooks ! 
But  by  what  blind-man's  noctograph 
Read  you  the  brains  of  man  or  calf  ? 
All  their  electric  fires  are  dark  ! 
Mot  even  one  feeble  phosphor  spark 
Hints  of  those  telegrams,  which  told 
Of  heats,  in  batteries  now  cold  ! 

Surgeon !  step  back  ! — Withdraw  your  blade  ! 

No  messages  are  hence  conveyed  !  . . . 

Nor  all  inquisitive  eyes  of  men, 

With  glass-eyed  Science,  in  aid  of  ken  ; 

Nor  all  concentrate  lights  of  Art, 

Flashed  upon  brains,  by  book  or  chart, 

Shall  steer  mankind,  o'er  darkling  deeps, 

While  REASON  its  old  "dead  reckoning"  keeps!28 


72  INJURESOUL. 


FYTTE  SIXTH. 

Be  SCIENCE  honored  ! — Hand  and  tongue 
Mark  mankind  only  !  .  .  .  Bells  are  rung 
By  hands  for  birth  of  hands  !      Man's  breath 
Makes  known  to  men  his  thoughts — till  death  ! 
Mollusk  is  moved  by  SENSE  .  .  .  and  apes, 
Standing  erect  in  men-wise  shapes, 
Tongues  have,  and  mow  at  us  !   yea,  birds, 
Apt  with  both  mind  and  tongue,  make  words ! 
Mind  moulds  a  commonwealth  for  bees  ; 
And  your  wise  beavers — like  Chinese — 
Raft-houses  build,  and  "  pay  no  rent ;  " 
( Example  shrewd  for  malcontent ! ) 

But,  of  all  minds,  I  pray  you,  ask, 
What  beast  has  ever,  in  task  on  task, 
Varied  through  lives,  and  thought  with  thought- 
Broadening  its  ways,  in  works  it  wrought—- 
Made soils  and  seeds,  and  ores,  conduct 
Through  toils,  through  arts,  toward — usufruct? 
What  paws,  what  claws,  what  apt  antennae, 
Move,  like  man's  HAND— to  "  turn  a  penny  ?  " 

Hand  for  all  Handicrafts  ! and  Tongue, 

Taught  by  no  human  MIND but  hung 


INJURE  SOUL.  73 

Like  an  eolian  harp,  in  airs, 

Thrilled,  as  by  angels "unawares  !  " 

What  "  power  of  mind  " — what  "reasoning  "  will — 

An  infant  moves — its  tongue  to  thrill  ? 

Making  one  word  ! — one  prayer-word  rather  ! — 

"  AB-BA !  ''  a  child's  first  utterance  !  .  .  .  "FATHER !  "  89 

Be  Science  honored  !  . .  .  MIND  OF  MEN  ! 
In  order  of  battle,  as  tongue  and  pen  ! — 
And  if  it  fight  for  fustian  cause, 
Claiming  to  stand  by  NATURE'S  laws  ; 
And,  on  its  shield  of  LIGHT  aloft, 
Bar  sinister  be  borne  full  oft, 
Still  in  its  wars  I  recognize 
Fair  fields  of  fight,  for  brave  emprise  ; 
Though  on  its  flags,  uplift  from  sod, 
Fire-damp  I  mourn,  affronting  GOD!  .  .  . 
Still,  as  its  pageants  pass,  I  see 
Full  many  a  chief  on  bending  knee  ; 
And  prayers  I  hear,  from  foremost  men, 
Inspiring  feats  of  tongue  and  pen  ! — 

Kepler's  clear  trust  in  GOD,  TRIUNE, 
Plumes  his  false  faith  in  magnet-moon  ; 
Newton's  high  hopes,  when  dying,  he  felt 
All  prides,  like  wings  of  Icarus,  melt  ; 
And  his  reliance  alone,  that  hour, 
"  Attraction"  of  an  Unknown  Power  : 


4  1NJURESOUL. 

Power  of  that  "  UNKNOWN  GOD,"  whose  thrill 
Greek  felt,  with  Hebrew,  on  Mars'  Hill ! 
Power  which,  in  atom  of  earth  or  sky — 
Power  which,  in  feather,  or  cloud  on  high — 
Power  which,  on  MIND  and  REASON,  awaits  ; 
Nor  ever  aborts,  nor  ever  abates  : 
Yet,  in  its  unseen,  unsought  FORCE, 
Unknown  to  NEWTON — as  to  his  horse  ! 

Mind  of  Mankind  !  . .  .  What  seer  or  sage 
Shall  think  out  THOUGHT'S  initial  page  ? 
Seers  of  all  stars  !  what  star-shine  bright 
Shall  flood  for  you  such  realms  of  LIGHT, 
That,  with  your  MIND'S  omniscient  span, 
Founts  of  all  star-beams  you  may  scan  ? — 
And  find,  beyond  all  "gates  ajar'' — 
Epiphanies  for  sun  and  star  ? .  .  . 

SPACE  is  your  theme  ! — Our  minds  you  daze, 
With  thoughts  of  worlds  in  endless  maze  ! 
Space  you  conceive,  which  swallows  bounds  ; 
And  Space  you  crowd  with  circus-grounds  ; 
Worlds  upon  wheels,  for  wild  goose  whirls  ; 
Axle-turned  orbs,  in  swaying  swirls  : 
Systems  built  up,  with  LAWS  to  aid  them  ! 
But  where,  O  !  SCIENCE  !  is  HE  who  made  them 

I  ask  you  this  !  .  .  .  My  MIND  would  learn 
What  SOUL  should  seek — as  soul's  concern  ! 


IN  JURE  SOUL.  75 

Where  is  my  MAKER  of  stars,  ye  seers  ? 

Ye  show  me  plans  !  .  .  .  and  planispheres  ! — • 

Show  me  His  HOUSE  !  ye  sages  bright ! 

God's  House,  of  Scripture  !   ' '  DWELLING  in  LIGHT  ! 

Good  minds  I  reverence  ! — REASON  and  MIND  ! — 
When  made  by  MAN,  as  GOD  designed  ! — 
Made  of  white  light,  from  Heaven  that  came, 
Ere  Mind  or  Reason  knew  earthly  name  ! 
When  WISDOM  dwelt  in  Light — "with  God  " — 
Ere  Adam  and  Eve  their  Eden  trod  !  .  .  . 

Yea  !  on  adoring  knees,  my  soul 

Looks  up,  where  lights  in  heaven  out-roll  : 

Moon,  stars,  and  sun,  diurnal,  borne, 

On  ambient  airs,  from  eve  till  morn — 

From  morn  till  eve  ! — their  force,  their  laws, 

Those  which  all  earthly  movements  cause  : 

Laws  of  which  Newton  inferred  no  more 

Than  seers  of  stars  had  guessed  before  ; 

Than  seers  of  star  all  days  have  guess'd  ; 

What  years,  from  brain-pulp,  books  were  press'd  ; 

And  Mind  made  Reason,  and  SENSE    re-ground 

Mind,  in  all  mills,  with  wheel-horse  round  : 

Wherefore,  I  say — of  stellar  force, 

NEWTON  no  more  knew — than  his  horse  ! 

Canon  COPERNICUS,  at  Rome, 

Low  knelt,  beneath  St.  Peter's  dome  ; 


76  INJURESOUL. 

Haply,  to  mark,  with  mindful  scan, 
Church  built  by  Buonarotti's  plan  : 
Wonders  out-wrought,  from  crypt  and  coign, 
Upward,  till  vaults  with  vaults  conjoin, 
And  the  Great  Dome,  confounding  sight, 
Dwells  in  it  own  mysterious  light  !  .  .  . 

Canon  Copernicus,  from  knees 
Rising,  went  forth  by  Tiber's  leas  ; 
And,  in  his  prayerful  ways,  perchance, 
Eyes  lifted  unto  air's  expanse  ; 
And,  from  horizon  of  midnight  Rome, 
Saw  church-walls  rise  toward  azure  dome  !— 
Lamps  lit !  so  many,  their  rays  were  shent, 
As  a  bright  camp-fire  lights  up  tent  ; 
When  its  flame,  flung  on  banners,  throws 
Reflected  and  refracted  glows  ! 

Lamps  lit !  for  heavenly  vesper  rites  ! — 

Lamps  borne  by  unseen  acolytes  ! — 

High,  over  Rome's  three  hundred  piles 

Of  church-walls,  with  their  sounding  aisles  : 

High  over  earthly  lamps  and  lands, 

Hung  in  that  "  church  not  made  by  hands  ;  " 

Whence  earth  was  framed,  from  -lights  in  airs  ! — 

As  crucial  FIRE  bright  witness  bears, 

When  its  alembic  heats  proclaim 

TRUTH — such  as  MOSES  knew — through  FLAME. 


INJURE  SOUL.  77 

Star-seer  COPERNICUS — from  Rome, 
Favored  and  famous — fared  for  home  : 
But  if  his  laboring  mind  recalled, 
Church  of  St  Peter's — roofed  and  walled  ; 
Shut  from  all  vast  expanse  of  SPACE, 
As  a  huge  tent  is  pitched  in  place  ; 
All  its  lamps  lit !  ...  and  yet  so  dim, 
Its  high-groined  vaults  grew  dark  to  him  ! — 
Why  stirred  not  Reason,  in  quick  remark, 
That,  if  Saint  Peter's  dome  was  dark, 
Cause  might  be  sought,  for  shadows  there — 
Where  CAUSE  for  all  things  dwells — in  air  ! 
Cause  for  all  flows  of  sunshine  bright ; 
And  cause,  no  less,  for  shadowy  light ; 
Cause  for  all  hues  in  light  that  dwell, 
And  cause,  for  midnight  marks,  as  well !  .'.  . 

Yea  !  as  I  trust — on  this  my  scroll, 
Some  words  may  light  even  INJURESOUL  ! 
When,  in  my  ways,  with  ways  of  LIGHT, 
WISDOM,  anon,  shall  help  me  write  ! — 
Stirring  my  brain,  my  hand,  my  pen — 
As,  for  all  works,  all  wills  of  men, 
Light  flows  in  heaven,  by  self-same  laws 
Which  sun-shine  make,  and  star-shine  cause  ; 
Launch  lightnings,  and — when  MAN  demands — 
Speed  them,  as  thoughts,  from  lands  to  lands  ; 


78  1XJURESOUL. 

From  minds  to  minds,  from  marts  to  marts  ; 

Asking  "  more  Light !  "  for  trades  and  arts— 

"  More  Light "  on  whirls  of  wind  and  tides ; 

But  asking  not  what  LIGHT  abides 

In  mystic  words,  from  DAVID'S  lyre  : 

"  His  ministers  ....  a  FLAMING  FIRE  !  "  80 

Canon  Copernicus,  at  Rome, 

Saw  stellar  fires  in  heavenly  dome  ; 

Saw  spires  of  fires  to  sun-shine  lent  : 

And— in  Jehovah's  out-spread  tent — 

Sat  down  to  speculate — like  BOB  ! — 

On  his  MIND'S  architectural  job  !  .... 

Yea !  by  those  beams  of  heavenly  lights, 

Bob-wise,  looked  out  for— building  sites ! 

And,  on  celestial  trestle-board, 

Way-marked  his  REASON,  as  "  God  and  Lord !  "— 

Vain  REASONER  !  .  .    Had  his  WISDOM  stirred, 

Scripture  was  his,  with  JOB'S  low  word  ! 

"Things  have  I  uttered— as  MY  THOUGHT — 

Too  wonderful !  I  knew  them  not !".... 

Then,  when  his  Mind,  with  dying  breath, 

Lost  REASON,  on  airs  exsuct  by  death  ! 

SOUL  of  Copernicus  had  known 

Vision  sublime,  at  PATMOS  shown  ; 

"  New  Heaven  !  "  "  New  Earth !  " — for  MANKIND  fit ! 

"  For  the  Glory  of  God  did  lighten  it !  " 


INJURESOUL.  79 

Oh  !  Infinite  and  Eternal  LIGHT  ! 

THEE  I  exalt,  on  page  I  write  : 

Though  my  worn  wits,  in  wrestling  strain, 

Must  match  with  THINKERS — brain  for  brain  !  .  .  .  . 

And  as  THY  LAWS  of  LIGHT  and  LIFE — 

Truth  against  lies, — impel  to  strike, 

Be  Thine  my  Light,  and  Thine  my  Laws, 

And  Thine,  O  !  Father  in  Heaven  !  my  CAUSE  ! 

Thy  Light  !  Thy  Laws  !  all  answering! — yet, 
So  simply  just  Thine  arcs  are  set — 
So  grandly  strong,  Thy  keystones  bear 
Vaults  of  yon  minster,  built  with  air — 
No  porphyry  heights,  on  Afric  shore,. 
Towering  Arabia's  deserts  o'er  ; 
No  ice-bergs,  built  on  Arctic  snows, 
Reft  of  their  heats  by  ocean-flows  ; 
More  firmly  bide,  more  brightly  shine, 
Than  heaven's  expanse — by  LAWS  DIVINE  ! 
Laws  TWAIN — Laws  TWIN  !  ....  no  laws  beside  ! 
Whence  and  whereby  ALL  THINGS  abide !  . '.  . 

Nor  aught,  in  seas  or  airs,  was  known, 

Nor  aught,  from  seeds  and  soils,  was  grown  ; 

Nor  aught,  for  earth  or  heaven,  enwrought ; 

Perceived  by  sense,  conceived  by  thought  ; 

Save  and  except,  with  dual  force. 

These  TWIN  LAWS  helped  sweet  Nature's  course  ; 


8o  1NJURESOUL. 

Or— when  ignored  or  spurned  by  MAN- 
FIRE-DAMP  enforced— for  human  ban  ! 

And  there  was  never,  in  air  or  earth, 
Without  these  LAWS,  one  insect's  birth  ; 
Nor  ever  existence  known  in  air — • 
Nor  sights,  nor  simulacra  there  ; 

Nor  weights  of  bulk,  nor  weights  at  all 

More  than  a  school-child's  air  blown  ball !  .  .  .  . 

Nor  ever  a  comet,  in  transit  driven, 
Has  compass'd  wider  ways,  in  heaven, 
Than  Chimborazo's  fires,  on  airs, 
Are  blown  remote  from  Hecla's  flares  ! 

Adjust  your  tripod  !   tilt  your  tubes  ! 
Transect  your  quadrants  and  your  cubes  ! 
Lens  unto  lens  align — till  curve, 
Concave  or  convex— eye-sight  serve  ! 
Deflect  "  rays  aberrate  "—till  they  shine, 
Extrinsic,  from  your  "  mind's  eye  "  line  ! 

Then,  in  your  wise  ways,  watch  by  night, 

Peering  through  achromatic  light ! 

Watch,  with  your  earnest  hearts,  not  less 

Than  eyes,  upcast,  in  sleeplessness  ! 

Watch,  with  your  prayers  !  as  knights,  new-made, 

Kept  vigils  over  shield  and  blade  : 


INJURE  SOUL.  8 1 

When  stalwart  men,  with  childly  eyes, 
Saw  stars,  as  lamp-lights  hung  in  skies  ; 
Nor — in  that  simple,  childlike  trust — 
Set  lowlier  lance  for  quarrel  just ; 
Nor  feebler  fared,  fierce  fight  to  dare, 
Crying  "Goo  HELP  1" — Sir  Hilary's  prayer  ! 

"God  help  !"  sweet  orison  !  .  .  .  'Tis  prayer 
Turks,  Jews,  and  Christians  breathe  on  air  ! 
And  if — with  faith  such  prayer  implies — 
MEN,  to  help  MEN,  with  WORKS  would  rise  ; 
Then  such  Saturnian  years  might  come — 
(Without  one  nitro-glycerine  bomb  !) 
As  erst  "Saint  Brandon's  Isle"  forecast, 
Or  RASSELAS,  in  his  valley,  passed  ! 3l 

In  vain  shall  "  Fresnel's  rhomb  "  suggest 
That  nature  knows  her  own  ways  best, 
In  vain  shall  rays,  rectangled,  pass, 
As  "aberrate  rays"  through  prism  of  glass  ! — 
What  boots  it?   Blind  eyes  blink  with  blind  ; 
Mind  muddled  mates  with  muddling  Mind  ; 
Tom  crooks  his  light,  through  Fresnel's  rhomb  ; 
And  Bob  squints  back  his  light — to  Tom  ! 
So,  with  ten  thousand  light-rays  mixed, 
Your  optate  optigraphs  are  "  fixed  ;" 
Ten  million  sparks,  from  aerial  spars, 
Glint,  and  you  posit  a  million  stars  ; 


82  1NJURESOUL. 

On  boundless  space  your  glass  eyes  turn  ; 
And  in  your  tubes  your  "systems  "  burn  ; 
Congress  of  orbs,  each  system  swings — 
(Like  earthly  "  Congress, "  girt  with  "rings  ; 
"Star-routes"  assured,  by  plans  approved— 
And  your  whole  bright  machinery  moved, 
According  to  Kepler,  magnet-driven, 
According  to  Newton,  poised  in  heaven  : 
While  we,  poor  laymen,  marvel  much, 
If  lame  man  lends  to  cripple  a  crutch  : 
If  Reason  adventures  first — her  LAWS  ; 
And  then,  as  reason  of  laws — her  CAUSE  ! 

"So  mote  it  be  !"  ...  So  system  swings  ! 

So  force  centrifugal  out-flings 

Star  from  its  sun — and  then,  with  spang, 

Centripetal — like  boomerang — 

Star  to  its  sun  springs  back  ....  nor  swerve 

Their  courses  from  concentric  curve  !  .  . 32 

"So mote  it  be  !"  .  .  .  But  if,  with  deft 
Machinery,  woven  as  magic  weft, 
And  with  such  subtile  force,  as  draws 
Needle  to  pole — or  by  all  laws 
Known  in  our  earth,  our  air,  our  fire — 
Balls  ye  can  spin,  with  ceaseless  gyre, 
And  curb,  without  confining  groove  ;  .  . . 
Or  if  one  globe  ye  straitwise  move, 


INJURE  SOUL.  83 

On  lines,  impelled  by  magnets  twain — 

And  hold  your  globe  by  unseen  chain  ; 

Well !  .  .  .  in  "  Swift"  ways,  I'll  seek,  for  "school," 

' '  Laputa's  isle  " — my  reason  to  rule  ; 

There  may  my  SENSE — no  more  to  err — 

Exalt  her  horn — like  "  Gulliver  :"83 

Considerate  MIND  ! — Convenient  FORCE  ! 
Constraining  stars,  toward  alien  course  ! 
And  helm-wise  then,  like  ships  coerced, 
' '  To  bearings  "  brought,  by  force  reversed  !  .  . . 

:( Attraction  "  here  ! — "  Repulsion  "  there  ! — 
Like  FIGARO,  answering,  everywhere  : 
On  lank  ellipsoid,  bulgent  sphere, 
Comet  cirrose — remote  or  near  ; 
Yea  !  on  all  cones  and  polygons, 
See-sawing  still — with  pros  and  cons  !  . .  . 

Well !  .  .  .  Could  my  common  sense,  bewrayed, 
Conceive  of  WORLDS,  thus  driven  and  stayed, 
Still  should  my  simple  SOUL  inquire, 
WHEREFORE,  in  SPACE,  such  ceaseless  gyre  ? 
When — with  His  calm,  all-swaying  WILL — 
GOD,  to  each  world,  might  say — "  BE  STILL  !"  84 


84  INJURE  SOUL. 


FYTTE  SEVENTH. 

Crypt  echoes  crypt,  when  Science  strides 
Through  Egypt's  tombs,  by  torch-light  guides 
But  when  Belzoni's  tramp  disturbs 
Mummies,  in  mouldered  swaddling-curbs  ; 
Piff-paff!  five  hundred  cerements  burst  : 
And  the  poor  seer,  in  dust  immersed, 
Nor  sees  nor  knows,  but  only  hears 
Mummy-cased  Copts  explode,  by  tiers  ; 
Till,  with  spent  breath,  he  sinks,  like  lead, 
Through  centuries  of  old  Egypt's  dead  ! 

Athlete  Belzoni  !  from  that  splurge, 
Dust-choked,  your  laboring  lungs  emerge  ! 
This  lesson  learned — that  centuried  dust 
Bad  foot-hold  makes,  for  human  trust : 
Lesson  which  yet  our  MINDS  may  humble, 
When  bubbles  burst,  and  "  systems  "  tumble  ! 

Electric  lights  !  .  .  .  what  sight  may  trace 
Your  ways  when  summer-heats  ye  chase  ? 
Or  over  Iceland's  arctic  steeps, 
Climb  upon  skies,  with  saltant  leaps  ? 
Electric  sounds  !  what  force  repeats, 
Their  bruits,  in  thunder's  rolling  beats? 


INJURE  SOUL.  85 

What  mind  may  guess,  through  sense  of  sound, 
Whence  are  those  peals,  from  airs  profound  ? — 
Why  muffled  moans,  in  throbs  uprise. 
Till  crash  discordant  rends  the  skies  ? 

Ask  Bob  !  ask  brains  !  ask  books  ! No  word 

Instructs  our  minds,  how  airs  are  stirred, 
When  lightning-bars  those  key-notes  blazon, 
Which  swell  to  thunder's  diapason. 

Yet  on  these  airs,  confounding  ears, 
Depend  all  sights  of  planet-seers  : 
Airs  of  such  wanton  ways,  they  whirl, 
Like  the  loose  hairs  of  dancing-girl  ! 
And  with  each  zephyr  twined  and  twinn'd, 
Star-beams — as  light,  enwoven  in  wind — 
Lilt  out  of  twinkling  eyes,  with  wink, 
Quicker  than  seer  of  stars  can — THINK  ! 

Science  knows  this  !  .  .  .  Her  "  reasoning 

Waited  till  ART  should  lenses  grind  ; 

So,  then,  bright  Art  her  glass  purveys — 

Convex  and  concave — kissing  rays  ; 

So  kiss  with  kiss,  through  crown-glass  given, 

Lifts  up  poor  loving  "  minds  " — to  heaven  ! 

Angles  of  crown-glass  first  collect — 
Angles  of  crown-glass  then  correct ; 
So,  then — all  "  aberrate  rays  "  aligned — 
Light  flows,  rectangled,  into  mind  ; 


86  INJURESOUL. 

Nor  ever  a  doubt  shall  seer  perplex, 
To  hint  how  wanton  beams  may  vex  ; 
When,  with  each  kiss  of  air,  they  pass, 
By  air-curves — even  in  FRESNEL'S  glass  ! .  .  . 

Who  contradicts  ?      SPINOZA  burned 

For  truth — and,  straightway,  falsehood  learned  ; 

Glass-grinding,  till,  with  failing  eyes, 

He  sought  for  ground-glass  light,  in  skies  ; 

And  lost — like  blind  Des  Cartes,  in  dreams — 

Day-spring  of  LIGHT'S  perennial  beams. 

Dreamer  DES  CARTES  ! — for  that  his  "  mind  " 
Visions  beheld,  by  WISDOM  lined — 
While  his  dim  REASON,  in  fitful  gleams, 
Flashed  fire-damp  on  his  heavenly  dreams  : 
When,  in  glass  eyes  of  blind  compeers, 
His  "  lights  in  heaven  "  he  viewed — as  "spheres 
Saw  "  worlds ''  recede,  and  "  orbs  "  advance — 
With  stately  march,  like  minuet  dance — 
Yet  failed  to  find  some  "  ball  "-room  rule 
For  a  mad  comet's  queer  pas  seul !  S5 

RULE  did  he  reach  for? — laws  for  "balls" — 
And  laws,  no  less,  where  comet  sprawls? — 
While  yet  on  WISDOM'S  ways  he  trod, 
And  with  high  heart,  looked  up  to  GOD  ? .  . . 
Why  paused  he,  on  his  "  Vortex  "  brink, 
Owl-eyed,  with  seers  of  stars — to  think  ? 


INJURE  SOUL.  87 

Why,  with  his  soul  by  LIGHT  impress'd, 
And  LAWS,  half-learned,  at  NATURE'S  hest ; 
Why,  when  he  climbed  etherial  cliffs, 
Way-marked  for  him  with  hieroglyphs — 
(Which  never,  in  all  man's  years  before, 
By  seer  of  stars  were  pondered  o'er,) — 
Why  did  he  pause  ?  .  .  .  Oh  !  dumb  Des  Cartes  ! 
Voicing  not  LIGHT  which  bathed  his  heart ! — 
Yea  !  in  his  SOUL  showed  heavenly  LAWS — 
FORCE  with  EFFECT  .  .  .  Effect  from  CAUSE  ! 86 

"  Keplerian  Laws  !  '' .  .  .  "  Newtonian  Force  !  " 
"  Sidereal  Science  !  "  .  .  .  In  glib  discourse, 
Mind  echoes  mind  ! — grim  atheist, 
' '  Ball-playing  "  with  prim  polemist !  .  .  . 

FAITH  flies  from  David's  heaven,  and  Job's — 
To  "think  out  "  heaven,  with  whisking  globes  ; 
Weighed,  measured,  poised,  by  chits  and  prigs, 
And  capering — in  celestial  jigs  !  .  .  . 

Cause  ruling  Laws  !  Laws  causing  Cause  ! 

Tell  us,  now,  INJURESOUL  !  what  Laws 
Ordain  "  Newtonian  Force  !  "  .  .  .  what  power 
Lifts  watery  floods  for  thunder  shower  ? 
Tell  us  what  laws  make  whirling  skies, 
When  clouds  on  clouds  in  gyres  arise  ? 


88  INJURE  SOUL. 

Why  whirlpool  rides  on  seas  and  strands, 
Or  a  wild  whirlwind  sucks  up  sands  ? 
Why  fierce  tornado's  coils  convolve, 
While  clouds  o'er  drowning  soils  dissolve  ? 
Why  hot  sirocco's  weights  consume, 
Or  swells  typhoon  from  sourde  simoom  ? 
Or,  on  Sahara's  blasting  breath, 
Samiel  goes  forth — that  wind  of  death  !  " 

"  WHIRLWIND  !  "  O  !  when  did  Science  make 

Laws  which  my  LIGHT  from  "  Whirlwind  "  spake  ? 

Laws  of  supreme,  unyielding  stress, 

When  listening  JOB  saw  ' '  VORTICES  !  " — 

Yea  ! — in  that  image  of  power  on  earth : 

"  BEHEMOTH  !  " — giant !  of  whirlwind  birth  ! 38 

"BEHEMOTH!"  .  .  .  O  !  ye  "reasoning"  men  ! 

With  weakling  words  of  witling's  pen, 

Tongue-tying  GOD  !  to  phrase  out  thus 

Cayman — or  hippopotamus — 

Or  sea-cow,  swollen  to  mammoth  size  ! — 

Or  an  "  unknown  beast  "  ' '  Barnumize !"  .  .  . 

When,  by  that  figure  of  wondrous  speech, 

FORCES  of  AIR  their  MOVEMENTS  teach  ! 

When,  in  that  parable,  NATURE  says  : 

"  Behold  ! — my  whirlwind  VORTICES  ! "  .  .  .  89 

"  Behemoth  !  " — Yea !  ye  wide-eyed  "schools," 
With  "  minds  made  up,"  as  REASON  o'er-rules  ; 


INJURE  SOUL. 

Why  scan  ye  not  yon  heavenly  heights, 

As  "  Laws  of  Matter  "  assure  you  lights  ? 

Why  seek  ye  not  sidereal  sways, 

As  matter  is  ruled  in  earthly  ways  ? 

Not  in  some  "guess'd  out"  occult  force — 

But  "  MOVEMENT  ".— swayed  for  CENTRIC  course  ! 

Force  of  fierce  AIRS,  as  "navel"  and  "loins  ! '  — 

' '  Sinews  of  stones  !  " — which  HEAT  conjoins  ! 

Pent  heat  !  like  column  of  spinal  steel, 

Whirling — as  frantic  fakirs  reel  ! — 

"  Bones  as  strong  pieces  of  brass  !  "  and  "  tail 

As  a  cedar  ! '' — threshing  earth,  like  flail  !  .  .  . 

' '  He  drinketh  rivers  !  "  .  .  .  Yea  !  in  his  drouth, 

"  Jordan  can  draw  up — into  his  mouth  !  " — 

"  Whirlwind  !  "  .  .  .  His  wild  way  onward  breaks  !- 

Sea-ward  he  strides  ! — and  WHIRLPOOL  makes  ! 

"  Behemoth  !  "  .  .  .  Mark  those  cloud-like  walls, 
Imprisoning  heats  !  .  . .  those  flaming  balls  ! 
Dropped  in  their  trail  !  those  lurid  glares  : 
Fire-power's  enforcements,  in  all  airs  ! 
Learn,  from  that  WHIRLWIND,  fierce  for  hurts, 
Heat-force,  which  fire-damp  rage  perverts  ! 
Learn,  from  those  fire-fraught  MOVEMENTS  there, 
That  LAWS  of  LIGHT  are  LAWS  of  AIR  ! 
So  !  shall  BEHEMOTH  show  you  cause 
For  EVIL  and  GOOD — by  self-same  LAWS  ! 


90  INJURESOUL. 

Science  I  honor  !  and  mind  I  trust !  .  .  . 
And  lift  their  lights  o'er  skeptic  dust ! 
No  cause  of  quarrel  is  ours,  to-day, 
Whose  wives  BELIEVE — whose  mothers  PRAY — 
So  long,  O  !  SCIENCE  !  as  wine  you  make  ; 
So  long,  O  !  MIND  !  as  thirst  you  slake  ; 
Nor  tempt  poor  souls,  with  fire-damp  light, 
Venomed  for  hearts,  like  dipsas  bite  ; 
Nor,  from  your  "  Dead-Sea  grapes,  "  distil 
Poison,  my  household  veins  to  fill  ; 
Nor  lure  my  little  ones — my  babes, 
(Pleased  with  your  glittering  astrolabes,) 
To  taste  your  black  wine,  drink  its  lees- 
Sweetened  for  them  with  honey  of  bees  ! 

Go  reel  with  Reason  !  on  reeling  earth  ! 

At  Pentateuch  make  pedant  mirth  : 

Fling  out  your  geologic  jeers, 

At  Moses,  and  Six  Thousand  years  ! 

Compute,  for  dupes,  what  ages  pass 

Ere  Mercury's  rays  shall  reach  your  glass  ; 

Coax,  with  your  "  Laws  of  Light,"  all  stars, 

From  Saturn's  moons  to  moons  of  Mars  : 

Toss  up  your  skull-caps  !  .  .  .  Yea  !  fill  up, 

With  heavenly  light,  each  ground-glass  cup  : 

"  Drink  deep,  or  taste  not  !  "  .  .  .  Pledge  all  god; 

Toast  your  star-goddesses  !  .  . .  What  odds? 


INJURESOUL.  91 

One  passing  cloud-puff  dims  your  scope  ; 
And,  in  the  dark — with  Bob — you  grope ! 

Meantime,  in  lamp-lit  lecture  hall, 

Helmholtz,  or  Thomson,  calls  up  all — 

Yea  !  all— your  suns,  and  stars,  and  moons  ! 

Air-whirls  uplifting— like  balloons  ! — 

Till,  in  his  lecture-light,  he  swings 

Stars  upon  stars — orbs,  belts,  and  rings  : 

Nor  need  he  "  mind  "  much,  when  you  joke — 

Telling  him  that  his  worlds  are — SMOKE  !  .  .  . 

Quick  repartee  his  REASON  assures  : 

"  If  MINE  be  smokes — pray,  what  are  yours  ?  ''* 

Yea !  what  are  yours  ? — when  pipe-stem  draws, 
From  soap-suds,  by  sweet  Nature's  laws, 
Air-bubbles,  opalesque  with  beams 
Brilliant  as  sun-like  Saturn  seems  ; 
Gleaming  Orion,  or  crimson  Mars  ; 
Great  Jupiter  . .  .  yea  !  all  your  stars, 
On  disc  discerned,  what  hours  you've  spied, 
Through  object-glass  full  two  feet  wide  ! .  . . 

Eye-bubbles  !  air-bubbles !  round  on  round ! 
Puff-balls  !  ensphering  pride  profound  ! 
Pride  of  Man's  Reason  ! .  .  .  and  I  admit 
Claims  for  that  PRIDE — yea  !  share  in  it ! .  .  . 
Pceans  I'll  join  in  ! — strident  songs  ! 
Voiceful  for  praise,  where  praise  belongs! 


9*  INJURESOUL. 

Fame  unto  star-seers !  craftsmen  bright  ! 
Builders  of  worlds,  in  realms  of  NIGHT  ! 
Scaffolds  they  stand  on — iron  and  brass  : 
Trowels  they  lift  up — gleaming  glass  ; 
Mortar,  of  star-lime,  they  prepare  ; 
And  on  yon  trestle-board  of  air, 
Trace  their  stupendous  building-plan  : 
And  my  soul  says—"  Hail  !  Mind  of  Man  !  " 

Labors  of  Love  !  my  heart  allows  : 
Vigils  of  Faith  !  my  reason  avows  : 
For  that  our  seers  of  stars  with  prayers, 
Full  oft,  ascend  their  shining  stairs  : 

Priest-like,  in  LIGHT  from  altar  shed 

Blessing  and  breaking  heavenly  bread  ! 

But  why  obtrude,  on  faithful  eyes 
Faithless  conceits  of  crude  surmise  ? 
Chimeras,  wrought  from  rifted  rays, 
By  glass  converged  for  optic  gaze  ? .  .  . 
Still,  as  your  glass  more  rays  collects, 
More  worlds  ideal  its  disc  reflects  ; 
Each  as  a  bubble  of  mental  paction, 
Globate  and  gibbose— by  "  Diffraction  ! "  4l 

Sweet  LIGHT  I   Shall  Reason  in  shadows  grope  i 
Bring  me  my  babe's  kaleidoscope  !— 
Toy  thing !  wherein,  with  rays  combined, 
Light  groups  strange  images  for  Mind  ! 


INJURESOUL.  93 


Chromic  illusions  !  optic  cheats  ! 
Light  rays,  which  tricksy  glass  discretes  ; 
Certes  these  forms  we  spy  are  frauds  ; 
Potsherds  and  flints,  prinkt  out  as  gauds  ; 
Air-bubbles  all ! ...  and  yet,  good  sooth  ! 
Far  worthier  helps  in  quest  for  Truth, 
Than  all  those  tons  of  molten  brass, 
And  all  those  lights  of  crystal  glass, 
Babel-like,  built  toward  heaven,  by  ROSSE, 
O'ershadowing  his  Christian  cross  ! . .  .42 

This  pasteboard  cylinder  confines 
All  that  your  telescope  combines  : 
Mirrors  and  lenses — flint-fine  sights — 
All  save  your  "acromatic"  lights  : 
It  kills  no  rain-bow  tints,  that  eyes 
May  count  on  truth,  to  sum  up  lies ! 
It  shows  us  works  which  NATURE  makes, 
When  by  her  LAWS,  from  lucent  flakes, 
Halos  she  fashions — aureoles  bright, 
Enwoven  in  air,  and  limned  with  light. 

Yea  !  in  this  tube — through  glass  refract — 
Rays  meet,  rays  kiss — co-mate,  co-act — 
Till  scraps  ofdelph,  and  shreds  of  clay, 
Kiss,  and  are  kissed,  by  each  light-ray  ; 
So  shapes,  from  kiss  with  kiss  are  born, 
And  gems  of  air  each  shape  adorn. 


94  INJURESOUL. 

I  turn  this  tube,  with  gyrate  jars  : 
All  air  it  holds  glows  bright  with  stars  ! 
Yea  !  like  yon  heaven,  on  starry  nights 
My  mirrored  "  space  "  reflects  its  lights  ! 

Tell  me,  geometer  precise  ! 
Or  limner,  wielding  pencil  nice — 
What  mind  or  hand  could  chart  prepare, 
To  match  these  STARS,  all  made  of  AIR  ? 

Go,  now,  O  !  Science  !  and  sort  your  rays  : 
With  lens  correct  their  "  aberrate  "  ways  ! — 
And  tell  me,  then,  if  airs  are  aught 
More  substantive  than  LIGHT  has  wrought, 
When,  with  your  chemic  fires,  you  show 
Metals  and  salts  in  serial  flow  ? 

What  !    Is  your  "  mind  made  up,"  that  Laws, 
Which  rule  all  earth,  in  air  must  pause  ? 
That  rays  of  stars,  which  streamlets  break — 
And  moon-beams,  marred  by  rippling  lake  ; 
And  lights  of  lamps,  in  vaulted  hall, 
Which  flare  and  flicker,  in  windy  thrall, 
And  wax  or  wane,  with  passing  mist — 
That  all  these  "common  facts"  exist  ; 
And  yet,  forsooth,  when  once  you  raise 
Your  tripod  frames,  and  fix  their  stays — 
Select  your  camp-ground,  lift  your  brass, 
With  liquid  lens,  or  lens  of  glas  s — 


INJURE  SOUL.  95 

Mirrors,  and  lens,  and  disc  a-plomb, 

And  rays  re-made  by  ' '  Fresnel's  rhomb  " — • 

Straightway,  you  think,  your  heaven  is  sure  : 

And,  as  your  zeal  for  LIGHT  is  pure, 

So  heaven — to  bless  your  "  watch  by  night  " — 

Must  grant  you  what  you  seek — PURE  LIGHT  ! 

Alas  ! . .  .when  "  lights  in  heaven  "  were  young, 
Ere  sins  of  men  their  shadows  flung  : 
Ere  deeps  of  airs,  and  deeps  of  earth, 
FIRE-DAMP  exhaled,  in  all  their  girth  ; 
Haply,  this  heaven  of  ours  had  then 
PURE  LIGHT  purveyed,  for  earthly  ken  ! 
But  never  again,  on  earth,  I  ween, 
Shall  heaven's  meridian  light  be  seen  ; 
Till  all  this  lamp-lit  "  Space  "  of  ours, 
And  all  our  "  world  of  minds  "  it  dowers  ; 
And  all  these  "  blue,  etherial  skies," 
With  all  their  "  facts,"  and  all  their  lies, 
Shall,  in  their  own  grey  ashes,  fade — 
And  a  "  new  heaven  and  earth  "  be  made  ! 

Kneel,  NEWTON  !  lift  your  thoughts  above 
Those  LIGHTS  you  sought,  with  prayerful  love  ! 
Bow,  KEPLER  !  with  your  FAITH  sustained, 
In  stars  by  SINAI'S  GOD  ordained  !  .  .  . 
Exult,  COPERNICUS  !  nor  mark, 
How  "  aberrate  rays  "  leave  angles  dark  ! 


96  1NJURESOUL. 

Let  SCIENCE  exult,  no  less,  with  charts 

Of  wondrous  works,  to  stir  our  hearts  ! 

But,  in  His  NAME,  who  Calvary  trod, 

Let  Heaven  be  childhood's  "  House  of  God  !  " 

Let  stars,  and  moon,  and  sun  be  ours, 

MADE  FOR  MANKIND — like  fruits  and  flowers  ! 

So  may  we  walk  our  earthly  sward  ; 
SCIENCE  with  GOD  in  calm  accord  ! 
Lift  up  our  souls,  with  seer  of  star  ! 
And  mark  sweet  heaven,  with  "  gates  ajar ! '' 

SCIENCE  !  descend  ! — yet  rise  ! . . .  explore 

These  airs  you  breathe,  to  learn  their  lore  ! 

Unlearn  your  guess-work.     AIR  is  yours, 

To  glean,  for  human  helps  and  cures  ! 

Unsay  your  twaddle  of  "  burnt-out  "  moons, 

Dead  rivers  sunk  from  lunar  dunes  ; 

Comets  careering,  meteors  hurled 

Millions  of  miles,  from  world  to  world  ; 

Ignore  your  books  !    obliterate  lore  ! 

Your  theories  new — your  schools  of  yore  ! 

Yet  shall  your  works,  by  LIGHT  imprest, 

Burn  on  yon  heaven's  blue  palimpsest ! 

There,  in  all  ambient  airs  you  breathe, 

LIGHT  waits — your  threads  of  thoughts  to  wreathe  ! 

So  may  all  manly  souls,  erect, 
On  mysteries  of  AIR  reflect  : 


INJURE  SOUL.  97 

Still,  as  in  dream  which  JACOB  dreamed, 
See  heaven,  as  over  JOB  it  beamed  ! 
See  stairs  of  stars  still  grandly  rise, 
In  splendors  drest,  of  dazzling  dyes  ! 
All  tender  tints  of  moon-lit  airs, 
All  shades  of  gold  which  eve-light  bears  ; 
Rose-flush  of  morn,  and  sea-shell  hues, 
Polychromed,  as  when  heats  infuse 
Lime-light,  in  glass  :   and  sunshine  paints 
Casements  of  church,  with  pictured  saints  ; 
Ceintured  and  robed,  as  limnings  rare, 
When  MARY  mounts  on  stars  in  air ! 

Sweet-hearted  Myth,  for  simple  soul ! — 
Shining  on  WOMAN,  in  deathly  dole  ! — 
Hushing  her,  while  those  words  she  hears  : 
"And  HE  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  !  "  . .  . 


98  INJURESOUL, 


FYTTE  EIGHTH. 

Huyghens  instructs  of  lucent  rills 
Rippling  adown  etherial  hills  ; 
"While  Newton  writes  of  molecule  rays, 
At  "  bo-peep  "  games,  on  stellar  ways  ! . .  . 
Nor  sage  nor  seer,  with  science  fraught, 
In  all  this  wide  world's  years  of  thought, 
One  TRIUNE  TRUTH  makes  known — which  I — 
NATURE-TAUGHT — lift,  this  day,  on  high  ! 
No  utterance  void — from  brain-sick  wight, 
Flaunting  DEMENTIA'S  fire-damp  light, 
By  doleful  doubts,  or  faith  absurd, 
Prompted  to  lift  his  weakling  word  : 
No  vain  surmise,  from  dreaming  mind, 
Book-taught,  by  blind  men  leading  blind  : 
But  "  plain,  blunt  "  words  I  write,  good  sooth  ! 
For  that  my  WILL  declares  them  TRUTH  ! 

One  Triune  Truth  ! ....  My  pen  may  pause  ; 
Pause,  ere  it  writes  repealing  clause  ; 
O'er-ruling  laws  by  mankind  made, 
For  LAWS  DIVINE,  on  God -head  stayed. 

For  well  may  MIND,  with  earnest  ware, 
Halt,  on  this  march,  which  soul  must  dare — 


IN  JURE  SOUL.  99 

Mounting  on  Light,  until  her  sight 
Sees  GOD — in  Mysteries  of  Light ! 

Laws  co-eterne  with  GOD  ! — WHO  WAS  ! 
WHO  Is  ! ....  Himself  His  own  FIRST  CAUSE  ! 
Laws  for  all  things  He  made  !  .  .  .  .  nor  less, 
Laws  for  His  Own  High  Consciousness  ! 

Transcendant  thought,  for  seers  to  write  : 
"  Dwelling  in  Light  !"  . .  .  yea  !  "God  is  Light !  " 
Translucent  thought,  in  childhood's  prayer  : 
"  God  sees  me  !  "...  "  God  is  everywhere  !  " 

Why,  then,  when  MIND  for  LIGHT  inquires, 
Through  seas  and  airs,  with  woven  wires — 
And  finds  it,  in  each  sand-grain  smit, 
Each  atom  of  air,  by  candle  lit ... 

Why,  then,  shall  I  mine  eyesight  glaze, 
Peering  for  sparks,  in  aerial  maze, 
Through  sand  and  air,  as  glass,  combined — 
So  LIGHT  may  bless  mine  eyes,  my  mind — 
When,  in  each  unit  of  matter,  I  learn 
More  than  all  seers  of  stars  discern  ? 

I  lift  my  heart — I  poise  my  soul, 
O'er  glittering  glows  of  girandole  ; 
O'er  dog-eared  leaves  of  lectures  learn'd, 
What  years  my  sense  for  Science  burned  : 


DO  INJURESOUL. 

My  lights  I  see ...  my  lights,  as  LAWS  ! 
LAWS  of  my  INFINITE  FIRST  CAUSE  ! 

I  ask  no  "  Schools,"  with  SCIENCE  fraught, 

No  books,  to  trace  my  TRIUNE  THOUGHT  ! 

It  shines  in  hearth-fire — beams  in  sun — 

Telling  me ..."  LIGHT  !  HEAT  !   AIR  ! — are  ONE  !" 

LIGHT  is  GOD  MANIFEST  !  with  clasp 

On  BIBLE  page,  this  Thought  I  grasp ! 

HEAT  is  FORCE  MANIFEST  !  .  .  .  Endorse 

This  Thought,  O  !  SCIENCE  !  .  .  .  All  HEAT  is  FORCE 

All  AIR  is  MOVEMENT  MANIFEST  !  . .  . 

And  here — my  point  d'appui—l  rest ! 44 

Tom  doubts  !  Bob  laughs  !  ...  I  but  remark; 
Asking  what  bears  electric  spark  ? 
What  bears  through  air,  these  pictured  traits 
Of  faces,  forms,  toward  metal  plates? 
Are  they  not  PASSED,  from  place  to  place  ? 
Shadowed,  unseen,  each  form,  each  face  ? 
Some  FORCE  transmits,  some  FORCE  completes, 
Your  limner's  work,  through  acid  heats  ! 
SOMETHING,  as  lights  and  shades,  must  PASS — 
From  face,  from  form,  toward  camera  glass ! 
POWER  must  control  this  Force  in  air — 
MOVEMENT  these  lights  and  shades  must  bear  ! 
What  dwells  in  all — for  COMMON  SENSE  ? 
My  FAITH  cries  out  ....  *'  OMNIPOTENCE  !" 


INJURE  SOUL.  10 

MOVEMENT  !  and  FORCE  ! — through  swerveless  LAWS — 
Swayed  by  my  "  INFINITE  FIRST  CAUSE  !  " 

Yea  !  as  I  write  these  words,  I  know, 

His  MOVEMENT  makes  my  senses  glow  : 

LIGHT,  to  my  Mind,  His  LAWS  fore-send ; 

My  thoughts,  my  words,  His  FORCES  lend  ; 

Still,  in  degrees  my  WILL  demands, 

FORCED  for  my  working  brains  and  hands  ! 

Till,  as  my  final  page  I  fill, 

SENSE  whispers  "Print  ! " and  REASON  :  "  I  WILL  ! 

Pondered  my  words  !    my  FAITH  to  prove  : 
That  never  an  atom  in  SPACE  may  move — 
Nor  molecule  stir,  as  atom  is  thrilled, 
Until  the  ETERNAL  MIND  has  WILLED  ! 

"  Give  Light !  "  roars  AJAX,  blind  with  fight ! 

"  Light !  "  dying  GOETHE  moans — "  More  Light !  " 

"  Light !  "  Bob  demands  !  .  .  .  And  yet  all  airs 

Bear  light  for  jibes,  and  light  for  prayers  : 

And  light  on  every  brain-lobe  waits — 

With  imprint — as  for  picture  plates  !  .  .  . 

And  every  whispered  word,  which  thrills 
On  air-flows,  as  its  utterer  WILLS  ; 
Let  it  be  falsehood  Bob  declaims — 
Let  it  be  fiction  Beecher  frames — 


102  INJURESOUL. 

Let  it  be  woman's  dying  appeal, 

That  Heaven  may  hear,  and  man  may  feel  : 

All  utterance  made,  in  ambient  air, 

LIGHT  shall  imprint — as  LANGUAGE  there  !  .  .  . 

Oh  !  INJURESOUL  !  .  .  . .  May  WISDOM  thrill, 
Responsive  even  to  atheist  WILL  ? 
Yea  !  .  .  .  .  For  those  fires  which  MOSES  felt, 
When  under  SINAI'S  VOICE,  he  knelt, 
Still,  by  Eternal  TWIN-LAWS  live — 
Patient,  all  earthly  helps  to  give  ! 46 

Still,  as  yon  MOON  her  radiance  sheds 

On  murderers,  crouched  by  dreamers'  beds  ; 

Yea,  as  yon  SUN  his  beams  bestows 

On  lifted  swords,  for  tyrant's  blows ; 

So  WISDOM  waits  .  .  .  her  heart-heat  throbs, 

For  saints  and  seers — for  Toms  and  Bobs  !  .  .  . 

Waits  for  each  SENSE,  to  ask  for  LIGHTS — 

Lends  them,  at  once — for  wrongs  or  rights  !  .  . . 

Hers  not  to  "  reason  "  on  Good  or  111  : 

Hers  but  to  yield — constrained  by  WILL  ! 

Yea  !  by  ETERNAL  LAWS  constrained, 

SENSE  to  subserve — as  GOD  ordained  ! — 

So  SENSE,  as  MIND — so  MIND,  as  WILL, 

"  Free  thought "  may  frame — "  Free  Agent "  still ! , 


IN  JURE  SOUL.  103 

Yea  !  INJURESOUL  !  ....  so  dwells  your  MIND — • 
FREE  !  ...  as  your  MAKER'S  WILL  design'd  ! 
And  your  own  WILL,  which  REASON  you  name, 
Flows  with  His  AIR — and  fills  your  frame  ! — 
When  ventral  heats  make  heats  of  brain, 
And  thoughts,  as  WORDS,  in  ' '  lightning  train, " 
Speed,  as  upon  electric  wires, 
Nerve-born  from  Nature's  ambient  fires  ; 
Fires  in  all  airs,  which  "  battery  "  draws, 
Where  battery   works   by  NATURE'S  LAWS  ! 

Fires  everywhere  !  This  man,  who  lights 
My  gas-jets,  and  my  coals  ignites  : 
Yon  savage  man,  whose  sticks  attrite, 
Till  mutual  heats  a  flame  ignite  , 
Shall  tell  how  occult  airs,  in  all 
Molecules  of  matter,  wait  but  call ; 
Wait,  with  inert  but  instant  fires, 
Till  contact  stirs  electric  spires  ! 

And  it  is  mine  to  tell,  that  LIFE, 
In  every  sentient  structure  rife, 
Its  heats  receives  from  aerial  heats, 
Its  sense  but  aerial  sense  repeats  ; 
And  all  its  glows  and  thrills  are  given, 
In  flows  and  thrills  from  airs  of  heaven  ! 

LIFE  for  all  hearts  !  and — LIGHT  for  brains  I 
AIR  feeds  all  flows  !  all  heats  maintains ! 


104  INJURESOUL. 

Deftly  your  "  DEMONSTRATOR  "  probes 

These  coils  of  nerves,  and  terms  them  lobes  , 

Tissues  divides,  and  traces  curves 

Of  thread-like  skeins,  and  calls  them  nerves  ; 

Spire-woven,  as  silk,  on  soft  cocoons  : 

And  then  quotes  "  BELL,"  or  "  MOTT,'' — and  croons 

His  gentle  jokes,  perhaps — while  showing 

How  "  dead  men  tell  no  tales  "  worth  knowing ! 

"Blood  circulates!  "...  Smug  surgeon's  guess ! 
Three  hundred  years  gone  questionless ! . .  . 
And  this  my  Common  Sense  debates — 
How  blood,  self-moving,  "  circulates  !  " 
Upward  and  downward,  flux  and  ebb  ; 
Through  valves,  and  veins,  and  visceral  web  ; 
And  tints  a  child  with  pink-white  flush, 
Or  cheeks  of  youth  with  rosier  blush  ; 
Curdles  with  fear,  burns  red  with  rage  ;     • 
Boils  in  hot  manhood,  creeps  in  age  ; 
Expands  in  heat,  contracts  in  chill, 
Yet  drips  as  RED  blood — RED  BLOOD  still ! 

Yea !  Common  Sense  !  ...  If  Harvey's  plan, 
Blood-flows  presumes,  for  beast  and  man, 
If  artery's  blood  more  purely  glows, 
By  chemic  test,  than  venous  flows  ; 
And  if,  surcharged  with  noxious  gas, 
All  venous  blood  through  air  must  pass — 


INJURE  SOUL.  103 

How  is  it,  then,  when  veins  are  bled, 
Their  flows  are  always  SALT  and  RED  ? 
Yea !  though  tney  traverse  sanious  humors, 
In  leprous  lymph,  and  turgent  tumors  ! 

1 '  Blood  circulates  !" From  cardial  veins, 

Flush-tides  of  blood,  toward  toes  and  brains  ! 

Swiftly  to  ebb  —so  SCIENCE  saith — 

Back  to  your  heart-lobes,  breath  by  breath  ! 

Almost  as  thought  itself  might  reel  it, 

Blood  floods  your  frame  .  .  .  nor  do  you   feel  it ! 

Heart-lobes  1  our  "  gates  of  life ! " Not  mine 

To  trench,  unlearned,  on  surgeon's  line  ; 
Nor,  with  trite  tropes  of  speech,  discourse 
Of  cardial  engine's  laboring  force  ; 
Of  ventral  furnace-fires  below, 
And  food-coals  for  combustion's  glow  ! 
Enough  for  me,  this  heart-in-halves 
Now  opes,  now  shuts,  with  flexile  valves  ; 
While  light-hued  tides  flow  forth,  to  flood 
My  veins,  and  vivify  my  blood ! — 
Enough  to  know  that  cleansing  force, 
Still  sucks  up  foulness,  with  each  course  : 
Until  this  air  I  breathe,  each  bout, 
Lung-driving,  drives  malaria  out — 

And  still,  my  REASON  inquires,  how  flows 
May  dribble  in  drops  from  fractured  nose  ? 


106  INJURE  SOUL. 

Or — as  a  whale  spouts  blood,  with  brine, 
Per  sallum,  under  harpoon  line — 
How  blood  arterial  makes  its  way, 
Through  artery  squeezed  by  tourniquet ; 
My  sense  inquires  how  heart-pump  sends 
Blood-currents  round,  from  ends  to  ends — 
Way-speed  required,  by  "  foot-pound  "  reckoned, 
Ten  thousand  horse-power  force,  per  second  ? 

Valves  open  !  .  .  .  Ventricles  expel  !  .  .  . 
Gush  follows  gush — swell  urging  swell  ! 
Now,  hold  your  breath  ! — count  sixty  ! — What  ? 
No  fret — no  flurry — of  surges  hot  ? — 
Pulse  calm — and  in  your  veins  no  rush  ! . . . 
Count  on  !  .  .  .  now  feel  your  heart-beat ! . .  Hush  ! 
How  faintly  falls  that  engine  throb  !  . . . 
Steam-guage  at  zero  ! . . .  DIE,  poor  Bob  !  *• 

Doctors,  from  wise  Hippocrates, 

To  dubious  Dioscorides  ; 

And  doctors,  following  Galen's  track, 

To  Paracelsus — sage  and  quack  ; 

Who  "  cupped  "  for  cancers,   "  bled  "  for  bile, 

And  purged,  as  "  humors,"  chyme  and  chyle  ; 

All  were  content  with  ways  they  saw, 

Exampled  by  some  NATURAL  law  ! 

Where  currents  flowed,  with  rippling  curl, 
And  eddies  caused  concentric  swirl ; 


INJURESOUL.  107 

Their  simple  sapience  ne'er  divined 

That  "  circulating  "  streams  could  wind  ; 

Now  out,  now  in — by  self-same  force — 

Till  Doctor  HARVEY'S  droll  discourse 

Showed  Charles  the  First  how  valves,  by  shutting, 

Sent  blood  upon  your  toes  abutting  ! 

Vain  SCIENCE  !  .  .  .  Bob  with  Tom  again  ! 
Nature  still  misconceived  by  men  !  . . . 
King  Charles  believed  it ! — so  'tis  said  !  .  .  . 
Well !  the  poor  king  soon — "lost  his  head  !  " 


icS  INJURE  SOUL. 


FYTTE  NINTH. 

He  nobly  erred  ! . . . .  Not  mine  to  shred 
Leaflet  from  HARVEY'S  laureled  head  ! 
First  of  all  minds,  from  LULLY'S  days, 
Clue-lines  to  catch,  through  Learning's  maze  ; 
Though  his  own  threads,  from  outer  air, 
To  labyrinth  lured,  and — left  him  there  !  4? 

"  Food-fuel !  ".  .  -  Yea  !  your  stomach  fill  ! 

And,  from  alembic  heats,  distil 

"  Food-force  !  " — "  Kinetic  force  !  '' — Thereafter, 

"  Life-force  !  "...  for  joys,  pains,  tears,  and  laughter ! 

This  is^our^cjENCE  ! . . . .  Upshot  of  all 

Men's  minds  have  learned,  since  "  Adam's  Fall !  "  .  .  . 

Since  Adam  and  Eve  felt  force  to  kiss, 

And  BOB,  the  SERPENT,  force  to  hiss  ! 

But  whence,  O  !  BOB  !  "  combustion's  "  heat, 

Ere  Adam's  jaw-bones  moved — to  EAT  ? 

And  before  eating what  ?— When  first, 

EVE,  upon  ADAM'S  glad  eyes,  burst, 
Lifted  she  not  her  own  sweet  eyes  ?. .. 
Felt  she  no  impulse  of  surprise  ? 

No  life-breath,  and  no  pulse  to  stir 

Till  Adam  plucked  some  FRUITS  for  her  ? . .  . . 


INJURE  SOUL.  109 

"  Food-force  !  "  "food-fuel  !  " and  then  her  heart 

Drove  life-blood  towards  each  vital  part  ; 
And  her  pure  body,  at  once — alas  ! — 
Distilled . . . . "  carbonic  acid  gas  !" 

0  !  Thou  All-Making  "  SPIRIT  OF  LIGHT  !  " 
Shall  Christians  doubt,  when  thoughts  I  write, 
Mindful  of  words,  with  meaning  rife  :  " 

"  Into  man's  nostrils  breathed  HE  life  !  " 

Plain  Scripture  words  ! No  force  but  BREATH  ! 

From  infant's  birth,  to  dotard's  death  ! 

Force  of  all  airs,  all  winds,  all  waves  ! 
Yea  !  of  all  fires,  from  volcan  caves. 

Blow,  from  your  shoulder,  fells  an  ox  ; 
Round-shot,  from  cannon,  sunders  rocks  : 
Breath,  from  your  lungs,  makes  bugle  blare — 

1  find  ONE  FORCE  for  all ....  'tis  AIR  !  48 

Yea  !  and  from  AIR  alone  these  words, 
These  thoughts  of  mine,  like  trills  of  birds, 
Or  bird-wing's  flash,  or  smile  of  wife, 
Borne  to  my  heart,  on  breath  of  life — 
Borne  through  these  auricles,  which  close, 
And  open,  as  life-breath,  ceaseless,  flows ; 
And,  from  this  battery-fire  which  beats 
In  ventric  cells,  with  centric  heats, 


io  INJURESOUL. 

Nerve-borne,  like  lightning- flash,  to  glint 
On  plates  of  brain — my  thoughts  to  print ! 

Brain-plates  I .  .why  not? With  chemic  bite, 

Metals  ye  grave,  by  force  of  Light ! . .. 
Instant,  when  chemic  fires  ye  mix, 
Yon  flying  steeds  on  plate  ye  fix  ! . .. 
Through  convex  lens,  with  centric  rays. 
Light  ye  converge,  for  fiery  blaze  : . . . . 
Light,  out  of  lime-light  battery,  glares, 
With  instant  flame,  on  midnight  airs  ! — 
What  if  my  MIND — exploring  seas, 
And  airs,  and  earth,  for  "  facts"  like  these — 
NATURE'S  analogies  ! — shall  catch 
True  light,  from  even  a  "friction  match?" 
LIGHT,  for  my  soul's  untutored  reach — 
Lessons,  my  heart's  quick  pulses  teach  : 
Match-light,  of  yore,  which  Grecian  wit 
Struck  out,  like  tinder-sparks,  to  flit  ! 
Lessons,  half  conned,  from  age  to  age  ; 
Dim  doubts  rehearsed,  by  page  on  page  : 
Till  gleamed,  at  last,  CARTESIAN  word — 
By  FAITH  ignored — by  Science  blurred  ! — 
Master-word  !  lost !  through  sad  compliance 
Of  Christian  minds,  with  REASON  of  Science  ! 

"  Vortices  !  " — HELMHOLTZ  now  declares 
All  which  DES  CARTES  conceived  in  airs  ! 


INJURESOUL. 

Test  after  test  one  proving  finds — 
Vortex  still  veers  where  fluid  winds  ! 
And  in  each  atom  of  air  we  breathe 
Vortex  with  vortex  "  rings  "  enwreathe  ; 
Atom  with  atom,  in  ceaseless  course, 
And  in  each  atom  an  unknown'force  : 
SCIENCE  now  sees  it ! ....  Helmholtz  !  Gould  ! 
Thomson  !  and  Stokes  ! — By  Science  schooled  ! 

Force  in  each  atom  of  ambient  airs  ! 
SCIENCE  this  time-worn  truth  declares  ; 
And  in  each  atom  of  earth,  she  shows, 
Carbon  abides,  for  igneous  glows  ; 
And  in  each  atom  of  water,  as  well, 
Force,  as  in  ambient  airs,  must  dwell ; 
And  in  all  animal  natures  beat 

Pulses,  by  life's  combustive  heat ! 

Heats,  in  BEHEMOTH,  woven  as  wires, 
Scourge  seas  and  soils  with  stormful  gyres  ! 
Yea  !  on  yon  ' '  seas  of  ice,"  we  mark, 
Flame  flashing  up,  through  winters  dark  ! . . . . 

What  more  ? LIGHT,  HEAT,  and  AIR;  I  name- 

TRIUNE  ! my  three-in-one  ! — my  FLAME  ! 

Atoms  make  molecules,  Newton  states  ; 
But  whence,  for  atoms,  are  "  ultimates?  " 
What  lens  shall  help  scrutative  Mind 
UNITS,  of  unseen  flows,  to  find  ? 


1 2  INJURESOUL. 

As  fractions  flowed,  for  Hahnemann's  brain, 
Down  to  decillionth  parts  of  grain  ? 

Cut  bono  /J. . .  .Science  on  quibbles  dotes  ;  — 
Dissecting  hairs,  and  measuring  motes  ! . . . . 
What  boots  it,  if,  through  microscopes, 
Bee-hairs  appear  like  hawser-ropes? 
Or  if,  beyond  all  glass-eyed  ken, 

Life  dwells  in  spores  of  tHallogen  ? 

This  have  we  learned,  of  Nature's  course — 

Each  atom  of  air  is  atom  of  FORCE  ! 

Each  atom  distinct,  with  power  per  se  ! 

And  that  one  fact  is  Science  for  me  ; 

For  that  my  wits  one  sequence  draw — 

"  Concourse  of  atoms  !  "  is  NATURE'S  LAW  !  :0 

"  Concourse  of  atoms !  " Old  heathen  guess  1 

Back  to  its  truth  we  come,  no  less  ! 

Sunward,  these  days,  our  Light  we  seek — 

Towards  ANAXAGORAS,  the  GREEK  ! 

Greek  of  all  Greeks  !  whose  reason  intense 

Worshipped  "  SUPREME  INTELLIGENCE  !  " 

God  !  the  "  All-shaping  Spirit !  "  whose  MIND 

Made  all  things,  as  His  WILL  designed — 

Ruled  all  things,  as  His  MOVEMENT  stirred  ! 

"  Life  !  Light !  and  Love  !  "—His  WILL.... His  WORD  ! »' 

All  making  FLAME  !  all-mastering  FLAME  ! 
Creation's  Fount — Creation's  Frame! 


INJURE  SOUL.  113 

Thy  realm  as  fixed,  by  LAWS  DIVINE, 

As  arcs  are  fixed  in  spheric  line  ; 

Thine  the  SOLE  ORB,  SOLE  SPHERE,  in  Space  ! 

Its  bound  defined — assigned  its  place  !  58 

All  stirring  FLAME  !  whence  motions  are, 
For  spears  of  grass,  and  spires  of  star  ; 
For  heats  of  airs  which  lights  reveal, 
Nor  less  for  lights  which  airs  conceal !. . , . 
Thy  welling  life — thy  swelling  love, 
All  deeps  beneath,  all  heights  above  ; 
Nor  atom  of  earth,  nor  atom  of  sea, 
Nor  atom  of  air,  untouched  by  thee !. . . . 
O'er  Reason  estrayed,  o'er  MIND  perverse, 
NATURE  still  walks  her  UNIVERSE  ; 
Still,  for  Mankind,  her  bosom  fond  ; 
Golden  with  fruitage,  green  with  frond  ; 
FLAME,  as  her  earthly  garment's  hem — 
And  FLAME  her  heavenly  diadem  ! 

O  !  SCIENCE  !  astute  art  thou,  as  erst, 
When  Chaldee  seer  their  lore  rehearsed  ! 
Book-lights  reflect  thy  lights  of  Brain  ! 
Book-prints  thy  myriad  thoughts  retain  !  . . . . 
Bulk  upon  bulk,  of  crude  conceits  ! 
Platforms  and  stagings — cleats  on  cleats  !      ( 

Books  bricking  Babels  up All  tongues 

Telling  their  "  minds,"  from  ladder  rungs  ; 


ii4  INJURE  SOUL. 

And,  on  your  topmost  transom  bars — 

One  eye  cocked  earthwise,  one  at  stars — 

TOM  !  as  Contractor  ;" — "squat,   like  toad  !  " 

With  jokes  to  crack  o'er  laborer's  load  !  " 

And  BOB  !  with  "  REASON  enthroned  !  " . .  .  yea  !  BOB 

"  Bossing  "  an  ever-unfinished  job  ! 

Speech  in  all  minds  confounded  ! — Thoughts, 
Summed,  in  some  units,  countless  aughts  ; 
While  Christians,  Turks,  and  Jews  wax  wise, 
With  this  conceit,  and  that  surmise  ! 
Minds  of  poor  children,    minds  of  men, 
Made  up  by  twirls  of  tongue  or  pen  ; 
This  man  all  creeds  decries,  but  one  ; 
That  man  all  creeds  alike  would  shun  : 
SCIENCE  can  brook  no  GOD  like  Job's ; 
Yet  prates  of  LAWS  for  whirling  globes  ; 
So  INJURESOUL,  in  "trial  of  cause," 
Appeals  to  judge,  for  rule  by  LAWS  ; 
But  when  he  dares  his  GOD  to  doubt, 
LAWS  he  would  quote — with  JUDGE  left  out ! 

' '  Back -bone  !  "  says  Bob  :  "  No  bending  knees  ! 

Onward  !    Quod  libet ! 'As  you  please  !  ' ' 

"  More  LIGHT  !  "  cries  John  to  Dick ..."  More  beer  ! 

All  that  we  know  is — we  are  here  ! 

Priest  knows  no  more  than  Bob  and  Tom  ! — 

To  DUST  we  go,  as  dust  we're  from  !  ". . . . 


INJURE  SOUL,  115 

All  the  "  old  gods  "  of  Grecia's  boast 

Are  dust !  .  .  .  Now,  then,  that  "  greatest  GHOST  " — 

"  God  of  the  Bible  " — is  bound  to  go  ! 

'Tis  COURTLAND  PALMER  tells  US  SO  ! 

Voicing  his  "  mind,"  from  "Century  Club  !  " — 

Pan-sophist,  for Beelzebub  ! 

Rid  us,  O  !  Reason  !  of  "  POWER  ABOVE  !  " 
Quod  libet,  then  !...."  Eat,  drink,  and  love  !  " 

"  Eat  !  drink  !  and  love  !  " — he  said — "  the  rest 

Not  worth  a  fillip  !  "  .  .  .  and  then — caressed 

By  woman,  who  shared  his  wine,  and  way — 

SARDANAPALUS  died — one  day  ! 

Finished  his  bier — so  legends  tell — 

Took  his  last  "smoke  " — and  went  to — BEL  ! 

Torch-light  and  ashes  ! Flame,  to  guide 

Guilt  to  its  goal — through  suicide  ! 

Thus,  in  all  cycles,  "  mind  made  up  " — 
With  kiss  of  woman  and  dregs  of  cup — 
Mounts  unto  doom,  and,  with  some  flashes 
Of  flickering  fire-damp,  falls  to — ashes  ! 

Pass,  INJURESOUL  !  Your  Gorgon  shield 
I've  struck,  because,  on  fateful  field, 
Its  horrent  snakes,  in  shining  guise, 
Coil  where  my  Christian  gauntlet  lies  ; 
That  gauntlet  which  my  FAITH  has  cast 
At  SKEPTICISM,  in  all  the  past : 


n6  INJURESOUL. 

At  ATHEISM,  and  all  its  jeers, 
Belittling  human  hopes  and  fears  ! .  . 
But  well  I  wot,  no  Gorgon  dire, 
Nor  dread  Chimaera,  belching  fire, 
For  gruesome  Graee,    nor  Harpies  foul, 
Nor  shapes  of  nameless  things,  could  scowl, 
With  angrier  hates  for  human  kind, 
Than  SCIENCE  frames,  from  DARWIN'S  mind  ! 

And  without  doubt,  that  DARWIN'S  brain 
Repelled  all  phosphor  fires  of  PAINE, 
Yet  do  I  trace,  from  DARWIN'S  search 
Through  ways  forbidden,  an  abject  CHURCH  ! 

And,  without  doubt,  that  HUXLEY  holds 
Toward  Christian  creeds,  of  modern  moulds- 
Yet,  under  fossils  Huxley  heaps, 
I  track  the  trail  where  serpent  creeps  ; 
Creeps  to  my  Christian  church,  and  glides 
Within  its  open  gates,  and  hides 
Concrescive  coils,  in  chancel  shade  ; 
Till,  for  its  hiss  receptive  made, 
Poor  men  may  listen,  and  women  hear, 
And  their  young  babes,  with  eager  ear, 
"Knowledge  of  evil  and  good  •"  obtain — 
Under  the  "corpse  light"  of — Tom  Paine  ! 

What  marvel  is  it  ? And  why  this  moan, 

That  seeds  of  weeds  bv  Bob  are  sown  ? 


INJURE  SOUL. 

When  monstrous  things,  unmatched  by  worst 
Of  skeptic  lies,  by  Bob  rehearsed  ; 
Things  that  are  nameless — things  extrorse 
From  wombs  which  blasted  nature's  course — 
Are  dragged,  this  day,  from  sunken  sod, 
To  testify — against  my  GOD  ? 

Scripture  belied,  for  Christian  flocks  : 

Bible  contemned,  for  "books  of  rocks  !" 

Fossils,  exhumed  from  charnel  pit, 

Witness  against  all  Holy  Writ !     5* 

Witness  that  years  by  MILLIONS  ran, 

Godless,  ere  MIRE  created  Man  ! 

What  marvel  is  it,  if  church  is  reft 

Of  even  its  few  dear  doctrines  left  ? 

Your  old-time  altars  razed,  to  raise 

New  piles,  for  match  with  modern  days ; 

Old  hymns  new-rhymed  to  suit  new  times. 

And  a  new  CHRIST — to  suit  new  rhymes ! 

What  marvel  is  it,  O  !  Christian  hearts ! 

If  WORKS  remain,  while  FAITH  departs  ? 

Or  if — within  your  temple-gate — 

"Corpse  light"  and  church  light — miscegenate  ?     55 

O  !  bat-blind  seer  !  and  owl-wise  sage  ! 
Blow  out  your  lamp-lights  !    blot  your  page ! 
Affront  not  "  lights  in  heaven,"  with  glares 
Of  glass,  transecting  glints  of  airs  ! 


n  8^  INJURE  SOUL. 

Seek  for  your  lights,  where  fire  abides, 

All  days,  all  nights,  in  aereal  tides  : 

Even  as  it  flames  on  waters  dark, 

In  phosphor  flash  from  beak  of  bark  !  .  .  . 

Seek,  where  OMNIFIC  LAWS  impel 

Molecule  with  molecule  still  to  dwell ; 

In  atoms  of  air,  heat  atoms  pent — 

Lights,  airs,  and  heats,  inseparate  blent  ; 

While  kind  and  kind,  through  NATURE'S  course, 

MOVEMENTS  accept — as  heats  enforce  ; 

HEAT,  AIR,  and  LIGHT  !   their  units — ONE  ! 

In  MOVELESS  EARTH  ....  in  MOBILE  SUN  ! . . . 

Yea,  Bob  !   with  arrogance  of  LIGHT, 
Star-seers  may  prop  their  globes  by  night ; 
Forth  from  our  shadowed  earth  to  peer, 
At  SOLAR  worlds,  by  STAR-LIGHT  clear  ! 
Guessing,  at  midnight  hours — poor  men  ! 
Why  their  own  SOL  should  hide  from  ken  ! . . . . 
OUR  Sol!   with  bulk  eight  hundred  fold  !  — 
Miles  off !  some  ninety  millions  told  ! — 
But  never  one  small,  periphery  arc, 
To  bless  our  eyes,  in  earthly  dark  ! . . . 
Save  only  what  "  Eclipse"  discloses, 
When  glass  we  crock,  and — crock  our  noses  1  5o 

And  MIND,  with  "stellar  facts  "  full  fed, 
Accepts  this  mundane  mould  we  thread 


1NJURESOUL.  119 

As  a  "small  orb,"  quite  lost  in — Space  ; 
Scudding  its  annual  solar  race  ! — 
And  REASON  is  told  that  orb  so  small 
Shadows  all  beams  from  solar  ball  ! . . . . 
So  that  no  glass,  nor  naked  sight, 
Can  catch  one  ray  from  realms  of  light, 
Even  as  if  shades  of  mountain  grot, 
All  sunshine  from  all  cliffs  could  blot  ; 
Yea  !    as  if  hay-cock,  reared  on  meadow, 
Could  shade  all  fields  beyond  its  shadow  ! 

Powerless  yon  priest,  of  Afric  stock, 
While  witlings  jeer,  and  magnates  mock  ! 
Powerless,  that  Christian  priest,  to  prove 
What  his  FAITH  feels — that  "  Sun  DO  move  !  " 
But  feebler  far — in  LIGHT'S  defiance — 
"Religion — RECONCILED — with  Science!  " 


1 20  INJURESOUL. 


FYTTE  TENTH. 

Bad  work  is  wild  work  ! . . . .  Skeptic  hits 
His  hearers  where  there's  lack  of  wits  ; 
Where  cranks  consort,  with  softening  brains, 
And  Vice  veneers  venereal  stains  ; 
And  atheist  women,  ashamed  of  sex, 
Men's  morals  to  their  own  annex  ; 
When  POLYANDRIA  wails  her  woes, 
And  slips  her  husbands,  like  her  hose  ; 
And  sleek  MALTHUSIA  shirks  her  cares, 
While  "  Science  "  shields  her  lord  from  heirs  ; . 
So  be  it ! ....  Let  worm  with  serpent  wed  ! 
So  be  it ! ....  and  DUST  make  marriage  bed  ! 

Enough  ! As  INJURESOUL,  I  name 

All  Bobs  and  Toms  ! . . . .  with  fame  or  shame  ! 
While  scent  with  scent,  on  mildewed  airs, 
Malaria  makes — malaria  shares ! 

For,  as  I  said — these  Bobs  and  Toms 
Ate  dust  in  Egypt's  catacombs  ! 
Sneered  at  Osiris — belched  at  Bel  ; 
Doubted  if  Pluto  reigned  in  Hell ; 
Always  old  creeds  at  variance  with  ; 
And  quick  with  change  for  novel  myth  ; 


INJURE  SOUL. 

Till,  in  our  days,  as  divers  "cranks" — 

Still  at  their  immemorial  pranks — 

"  WILL- POWER  each  "willing"  mind  discovers  : 

God  of  "Free  Livers  ! ". ..  and  "  Free  Lovers  !  " 

WILL- POWER  ! — as  power  of  steam  ye  state  ! 
By  horse-power  dynams — foot-pound  weight ! . . . 
Why  not  ? ....  No  brute-force  acts,  to  shake 
Sound  earth,  with  fierce,  collapsing  quake, 
Worse  than  relentless  powers  of  WILL — 
With  ways  to  waste,  and  means  to  kill ! 
Striding  o'er  earth,  with  dreadful  tread  ; 
By  MIND  illumed — by  REASON  out-led  ! 

WILL- POWER  ! . . .   Yea  !  Science  shows  to  us, 
Will-power  of  Turks,   o'er  trod  by  Russ  ; 
Will-power  of  Germans,  grinding  Gaul ! — 
And  the  same  FORCE  empowering  all  ; 
Blind  Force  !  By  TRUPP,  from  NATURE  riven  ! 
Fire-force  in  AIR  ! . ..  Yea  !  Force  from  Heaven  ! 

I  muse  on  MATTER  ! — on  matter  stirred  : 
As  nerve  moves  pen,  and  pen  makes  word  ; 
As  leaves,  on  autumn  winds,  are  borne, 
In  heaps,  beyond  all  standing  corn  ; 
Or  whirled — as  if  by  concert  held — 
Toward  roots  of  trees,  by  FORCE  impelled  ; 
And  sea-sands  heaved,  on  sea-side  sands, 
And  sea-shore  sands  toward  barren  lands  ; 


22  INJURE  SOUL. 

And  trickling  rills,  and  devious  brooks, 
Sea-trending  still,   by  countless  crooks  ; 
Nor  barred  by  hills,  nor  swerving  back  ! — 
Save  for  fresh  FORCE,  to  break  their  track  ! — • 
Now  lost  from  sight — now  risen  again  ; 
Yea  !  as  if  ruled  by  REASON  of  men  ! — 
Plunging  in  Dead  Sea's  brine,  to  make 
Ways  under  earth,  their  floods  to  take  : 
Until — beyond  yon  Afric  surges — 
JORDAN,  in  RED  SEA'S  waves,  emerges  ! 

Will-Power  !  And  whence  ? . . .  Your  mid-night  dream 
With  words,  thoughts,  vivid  acts,  may  teem  ! 
Yet,  when  your  startled  senses  wake, 
No  retrospect  shall  MEMORY  take  ! 

Is  it  your  WILL  your  MIND  benumbs, 

When  thoughts  are  marred  by  rattling  drums  ? 

Or  jangling  bells  make  mind  distraught  ? — 

Or  is  it  WILL,  which  harrows  thought, 

When  mind,  with  jealous  doubts  o'er-run, 

Still  "makes  the  meat  it  feeds  upon  ?  " 

Or  is  it  WILL,  which  harbors  fears, 

When  hungry  WANT  your  threshhold  nears, 

And  mindful  SENSE,  with  cares  o'erfraught, 

In  drowning  "  drink  "  would  STIFLE  thought  ? . . . . 

No  questions  these  for  flippant  pause  ! — 

Their  answer  waits — in  NATURE'S  LAWS  ! 


INJURE  SOUL.  i  23 

WILL  !  and  you  call  it  REASON,  O !  Bob  ! 
Will  1  whirling  on  your  angry  mob, 
Firing  obnoxious  church . . .  .until, 
With  "  Catling  guns,"  comes  COUNTER  WILL  ! 

What's  FEAR,  but  WILL  to  run  ? what's  PLUCK, 

But  will  to  fight  ?  .  .  .  WILL  "runs  amuck," 
When  mad  Malays  their  "  minds  "  release, 
Will-power  sustained  by  powers  in — CREESE 
Cut,  from  that  creese-hilt,  finger-grip — 
Your  madman  flies  from  lifted  whip  ! 
MIND,  on  his  brain — with  instant  thrill — 
Bids  him  be  off  ! . . .  .and  that's  his — WILL  ! 

Dispute  it,  Bob  ! .  .  .Tell  us,  that  brain 

Softens — and  makes  these  MINDS  insane  I 

Well,  then,  what  faculty  perpends, 

In  madman's  brain,  misleading  friends, 

Or  baffling  foes,  with  occult  skill — 

Till  "  mind  made  up  "  shall  work  his — WILL  ? 

IDEAS — like  wavelets,  gathering  force — 
May  wind  their  ways,  with  unknown  course  ; 
But  if,  to  ACT,  their  force  impel, 
Tis  MIND  which  wields  them — sick  or  well  ! 
Fancy,  with  fitful  force,  may  thrill — 
VOICE  it,  or  ACT  it ...  'tis  your  WILL  ! 


T24  INJURESOUL. 

And  "  Reason  enthroned  "  is — WILL  ! What  more 

What  less  ?  what  else  ? "  Two  twos  are  four !  " 

SENSE  tells  you  this  ! — Your  EYES  perceive  : 
These  numbers,  as  your  THOUGHT,  you  weave — 
Your  creed — your  reason  ! — and  you  may  still 
Conceal  or  utter  it — as  you  WILL  !  .  . . 

So,  Bob's  high  REASON — as  "  god  and  lord  " — 
Is  Bob's  OWN  WILL  ! — by.  Bob  adored  ! — 
Bob  leads  all  "  self-made  men,"  by  odds  : 
HIMSELF  he  makes  his — "  god  of  gods  !".... 

Thoughts  are  but  WORDS  !  to  make  up  mind, 
As  beads  upon  a  string  you  bind  ! — 
But  whence  are  WORDS  ?....!  ask  not  Watts, 
Locke,  Boyle,  or  Reid,  what  makes  your  thoughts  : 
Since  SENSE,  alone — for  beast  or  man — 
Makes  mind,  to  feel,  seek,   find,  or  plan  ! . . . . 
Max  Miiller  !  astute  philologist  ! — 
For  Oxford  grinding  "Aryan"  grist — 
Miiller  his  prompt  opinion  perks, 
That  words  were  made  for  mind,  by — jerks  ; 
Spit  as  "  popt-corn  " — when  sense  (by  springs) 
Heard,  saw,  smelt,  touched,  or  tasted  things  ! . . . . 
So  much  for  Miiller — and  divers  wits — 
Scrap-booking  SPEECH,  by  ' '  bric-brac  "  bits  : 
Cow-moo,  and  sheep-bleat,  dog-bark,  goose-hiss  ! — 
With  "bow-wow  theory  "  Max  abuses  ! 


INJURESOUL.  I25 

WORDS  !  what  are  lexicons  of  words, 

But  bleats  of  lambs,  and  trills  of  birds, 

Till  SENSE  associates  word  with  THOUGHT, 

And  MIND,  with  serried  words,  is  wrought  ? 

Cat  caterwauls,  and  terrier  yelps  : 

They  voice  their  WILLS — for  hurts  and  helps ; 

And  SENSE,  for  beast,  for  bird,  for  fish, 

' '  Perception  "  gives — for  WILL — for  WISH  ! 

"  Instinct "  it  is !  my  BOOKS  explain  ! 
"Something  within  1  "  says  book-lit  BRAIN  ! — 
But  will  you  POSIT   its  force  "  within," 
Which  stirs  a  worm,  impaled  on  pin  ? . . . , 
Is  it  in  brains  of  squid  or  slug  ? — 
Is  it  in  belly  of  headless  bug  ? 
If  brain  of  bird  impels  to  sing, 
What  moves  your  jelly-fish  to  sting? 

O  !  fine-spun  REASON  !  O  !  subtle  MIND  ! 

Your  "introspect,"  how  bright  ! — how  blind  !. . . . 

Some  "  power  within  "  (you  think) — occult — 

Makes  a  flea  skip — like  catapult ! 

While  MAN,  poor  biped  !  hardly  speeds, 

With  WILL  to  chase  down  millepedes  ! . . . . 

Flea  skips  some  sixty  times  its  length  ! 
Mosketos  buzz  with  bag  pipe  strength  ; 
Ambush  they  lie  in  !  blood  they  scent ! 
Dodge  blows — by  "  reasoning  "  MIND  well-meant — 


126  INJURE  SOUL. 

'Till  a  man's  brain —  for  sleep  inclined — 

They  addle  !  .  .  .  And  yet  you  doubt  their — Mind  ! 

So  Science  sees  poor  insects  quail, 
Retract  their  legs,  when  pins  impale  ; 
Antennae  clasped,  like  hands  you  fold, 

Helpless,  when  heats  of  heart  grow  cold  ! 

Science  sees  fish  from  nets  out-flop, 

And  birds,  pursued,  toward  shelter  drop : 

SENSES  (stirred  first)  sensorium  smite  ! 

Cause  queried — guessed — WILL,  then,  and — flight  !- 

Self-same  such  sequences  of  thrills, 

For  men,  for  mites  ! . . . .  their  MINDS  !  their  WILLS  ! 

GOD  sways  by  LAWS  ! . . . .  His  LAWS  ordain 

That  WILL  alone  o'er  earth  shall  reign  ! 

Whatso  Man  WILLS,  in  all  his  ways, 

FORCE    "  backs"  him  in —  all  nights,  all  days; 

Force,  in  all  grains  of  soils  and  seeds, 

Helps  when  he  WILLS,  for  harvest  needs  ; 

Force,  in  all  veins,  all  nerves,  all  thews, 

Helps  him  all  faculties  to  use  ! — 

Force,  at  his  WILL,  waits  everywhere  ; 

And,  wheresoever  it  waits — 'tis  AIR  ! 

AIR  everywhere ! . . . .  And  if  its  powers — 
Comprest,  or  in   expanse — be  ours  ; 
Engines  to  urge,  until  their  force 
Transcend  all  powers  of  ox  or  horse  ; 


INJURESOUL. 

What,  then,  if  AIR  we  breathe,  to  live, 

All  MOTIVE-POWEK  of  life  shall  give  ? 

What  if  these  complex  frames  we  wear, 

Are  ENGINES — moved  by  FORCE  of  AIR  ? — 

Dynams  of  air,  like  steam-force  drawn, 

For  veins,  and  nerves,  for  thews  and  brawn  ; 

Heat-force,  ELECTRIC,  fed  by  thrills — 

For  hearts,  and  brains,  and  minds,  and  WILLS  ? 

Yea  !  if  unseen,  unfelt  efflux 

From  a  man's  face,  through  air,  conducts 

His  facial  traits — for  phototype, 

Touched,  as  by  master-skill  of  CUYP — 

Wherefore  not  flows  of  unfelt  air, 

Pictures  of  thoughts,  for  BRAIN,  to  bear  ? 

SOMETHING  must  reach  receptive  sense — 

Substance  must  TOUCH  with  power  intense  I 

If  it  be  only  AIR,  which  thrills, 

By  "  pressure-points  " — as  reasoning  wills — 

Whence  is  its  force  ?  and  how  may  brain 

Such  myriad  shades  of  thought  retain  ? 

And  when  we  pause — with  memory  blurred — 

Whence,  at  our  wills,  come  thought  and  word  ? 

WORDS  make  IDEAS  !  From  birth  to  death, 
Words  upon  words  we  make,  with  breath  : 
What  now,  if  breath,-  propulsive,  mould 
Each  utterance  of  our  lips,  and  hold 


i28  INJURE  SOUL. 

Impress  of  words? — as  facial  traits, 

Air-borne,  are  etched  on  photo-plates  ? 

Is  it  less  wonderful,  to  trace 

These  transcripts  of  your  pictured  face — 

Passing  through  flowing  air,  commixt 

With  flowing  lights,  till  ART  has  fixt 

NATURE'S  true  semblance  ? — is  it,  O  !  MIND  ! 

Less  marvellous,  that  words,  are  lined 

By  lightning-sparks,  from  WILLS  to  WILLS?... 

And  why  not  sparks,  for  THINKING  thrills  ? . . . . 

When  our  low  lip-words,  tone  by  tone, 

Make  audible  AIR — through  telephone  ? 

Why  should  we  halt — for  guess-work  ? There, 

O  !  REASON  !  are  ALL  your  WORDS  ! ....  in  AIR  ! 

Air ! Were  it  LOST,  what  else  remains  ? — • 

What  is  there  else,  ALL  ELSE  contains  ? 
What  is  there  else  eludes  all  quest, 
When  crucial  heats  enforce  your  test  ? 

Fires  cannot  search  out  AIR Ye  fill 

Retorts  ! — MALARIA  ye  "distil  ! — 
Naming  its  poisons— class  by  class — 

So  be  it ! Eliminate  each  gas 

And,  as  your  red  alembic  beats — 
Potential  with  consuming  heats — 
There,  at  its  core  electric  — there, 
In  its  white  heat— flows  NATURE'S  AIR  ; 


IN  JURE  SOUL.  129 

AIR,  as  it  flows  for  us  when  breath 

( Freed  in  our  hearts  from  seeds  of  death) 

Kisses  all  ducts  of  blood,  with  stress 

Of  strength,  and  whirls  those  VORTICES 

Men  have  named  CORPUSCLES,  which  bear 

Force  for  all  functions  ....  FORCE  of  AIR  !  .  . . 

Force  in  each  breath  we  breathe  !  .  .  .  Yea,  Bob  ! 
Swell  your  big  heart,  with  pulsive  throb  ! — 
Flash  your  IDEAS  out !  roll  each  word 
Stentorian,  as  your  lungs  are  stirred  !  .  .  . 
GOD  help  you  !  .  .  .   If 'twere  yours  this  night, 
To  feel  that  flash,  on  blinded  sight, 
SAUL  felt,  what  time  DAMASCUS  gate 
Opened  for  him,  on  "  street  called  STRAIGHT," 
Haply,  ONE  breath  of  bracing  breeze 
Might  cast  you  on  your  trembling  knees  ; 
With  your  brow  bright — your  bosom  bare  ; 
And  your  heart  drinking  LIGHT — from  AIR  !  — 


130  INJURE  SOUL. 


FYTTE  ELEVENTH. 

Men  die  for  CREEDS  !  .  .  .  But  never  an  age 
Wrote  MARTYRS'  names  on  sceptic  page ! 
Men  of  all  lands  their  gods  have  zoned, 
In  heavenly  airs,  nor  gods  disowned  ; 
Alike  for  JOVE — alike  for  Joss — 
Dying,  by  faggot,  scaffold,  cross  ! 
But  never,  I  ween,  with  loyal  trust, 
Has  atheist  REASONER  died  for — DUST  1 

Death  is  your  goal,  Bob !  Dupes  of  "  CHANCE  " 
At  a  rope's  end  may  end  their  dance  ! 
Some  bloody  MINDS  by  priest  are  shriven, 
And  KETCH  cries — "  All  aboard,  for — heaven  !  ' 
While  others,  Bob- wise,  kick  the  rope, 
Without  one  prayer — without  one  hope  ! — 
But,  if  your  "  world's  mind  "  marshals  out 
ONE  atheist  MARTYR,  dying  for  DOUBT — 
And  chirping  "  CHANCE  !  "  with  choking  throb- 
Tell  us  what  DIRT  he  died  on,  Bob  ! 

I  cannot  reckon  how  stubborn  WILL 
May  check-rein  hold  on  dying  thrill  ; 
Or  muzzle  a  man  at  dying  pass, 
Cutting  his  throat  before  a  glass  ! .  .  : 


UtfVKSSOUL.  13  r 

Nor  do  I  reckon  it— -pro  or  con — 
What  death-bed  proved,  for  ADDISON, 
More  than  it  proved  for  THOMAS  PAINE  : 
For  WILL  may  tug,  with  stoic  strain 
When  savage  chieftain,  girt  by  foes, 
All  tortures  bears,  nor  tremor  shows  ! 

From  Darwin's  dust  his  breath  might  pass, 

Sobless,  as  breath  of  ox  or  ass ; 

And  Beecher's  brawn  his  brain  may  brace, 

With  dying  thoughts  of  "  saving  grace  ;  " 

And  RENAN,  dying  at  ease,  may  sigh — 

"  See  how  IDEALISM  can  die  !  "... 

"Agnostic"  even — ere  brain  succumb — 

May  say,  with  sickening  WILL.  ..."  Sic  sum  I" 

While  Death  shall  damp  an  ATHEIST  boast, 

When  COURTLAND  PALMER  sees. . .   his  "  GHOST  ! "  58 

But,  if,  your  ATHEIST  calmly  stand, 

With  "  mind  made  up,"  and  razor  in  hand — 

And  tender  eyes  on  tearful  wife — 

His  infant  at  her  font  of  life  ; 

And  if  he  THEN  says — "  Honor  bright ! 

'Tis  but  a  "  short  cut  " wife  !    good  night !".... 

"Game "  he  may  be  ! — So  much  I'll  own  ! — 

But  "  game  "  we  COUNT,  when  "  dice  "  are  THROWN  ! 

No,  sir ! Your  play's  not  yet  "  played  out  !  " 

You're  not  yet — DEAD  !  my  man  of  "doubt  !  " 


132  INJURES  OUL. 

Nor,  when  your  eyes,  on  woman  and  babe, 

Close — and  your  earthly  astrolabe, 

Whirls  all  its  rings,  as  rings  run  round, 

For  a  man  bludgeon'd,  hanged,  or  drowned  ! — 

Yea !    though  your  frame  fall,  prone  to  earth  ; 

Blood-wet  your  chamber's  carpet-girth  ; 

Still  must  you  THINK  !  with  quicker  mind, 

Than  ever  before,  in  life ! — nor  blind, 

With  DOUBTS,  at  that  LAST  HOUR  supreme  ! 

LIGHT  shall  be  yours. . .  .with  LIGHTNING  gleam  ! 

Ah  !  INJURESOUL  !  ....  If  WILL  so  loose 
From  NATURE'S  laws,  for  MIND  obtuse  ; 
If  HEART,  estranged  from  love  and  life — 
( Albeit  the  dolt  might  "  love  "  his  wife) — 
Could,  for  ONE  INSTANT,  thrill  with  LIGHT, 
Which  burned  on  MINE,  one  dying  night ! — 
Yea  !  burned  upon  my  dying  heart  ! — 
When,  with  such  throes  and  throbs  as  part 
Body  from  soul — and  with  my  MIND 
Conscious  of  all — each  sense  defined, 
I  sank,  like  wretch  by  hand  impelled 
Toward  yawning  chasm— and  o'er  it  held  !— 
Supine  my  soul — suppressed  my  breath  ! 
Dying— through  deadly  fear  of  death  ! . . . . 

And  at  that  mortal  hour — Oh  !  GOD  ! 
Feeling  all  ways  my  walks  had  trod 


INJUKESOUL. 

BASELESS  behind  me  ! ...  .even  as  his, 

(Lured  through  Egyptian  mysteries,) 

Who  scaled  ascending  stairs — each  round 

From  foot-hold  lost,  in  gulf  profound  ; 

Till  death-grip,  at  abysmal  brim, 

SAVED  him. . .  .all  crumbling  under  him  !. . . 39 

Yea  !  1  rehearsed  that  hideous  dream  ! 
Whiles,  in  my  LIGHT'S  electric  gleam, 
All  MEMORIES,  of  my  LIFE  returned  : 
Record,  by  fires  of  CONSCIENCE  burned  ! 
Record,  each  passing  SOUL  must  read, 
Ere  MIND,  from  earthly  SENSE,  be  freed  \ 

Dream-Sense  !  .  .  .  And  yet  no  poppy-flowers, 
Wimpling  DE  QUINCEY'S  poison'd  powers ; 
No  hasheesh,  eaten  in  Eastern  land — 
No  nodous  nerves,  in  skull  trepann'd — 
Did  ever,  as  mortal  MIND,  combine 
Such  "  michen  malicho, ''  as  mine; 
When  "  will-o'-th'-wisp  "  my  senses  led, 
And  all  my  mind  with  fancies  fed  ; 
And  whereso'er  its  dance  I  traced, 
Phantoms  I  imaged,  phantoms  chased  ! 
By  wildered  WILL,  in  wildered  ways, 
My  MIND  impressed,  through  nights  and  days, 
And  yet  my  REASON  invoked,  to  guide 
All  movements,  and  all  ways  decide  ! . . . 


134  INJURESOUL. 

"  Reflection,"  at  my  call,  subvened  ; 
Books  brought  to  bear,  where  bias  leaned  ; 
Calm  cogitation,  pondering  acts  ; 
Slow  dubitation,  measuring  "facts  ;".... 
Enough  !  my  MIND  a  "skeptic"  made  !  . .  . 
My  SOUL  was  on  my  Saviour  stayed  ! 

"  LIKE  unto  LIKE!  " — and  "  kind  with  kind !  " — 
And  fire-damp  LIGHT  for  faithless  mind  ! 
No  WISDOM  shines  for  ' '  skeptic  "  brains, 
Where  REASON  alone  o'er  SENSES  reigns  ! 
Let  grave -worms  creep  to  grave-yard  goal ! — 
Pass,  TOMS  and  BOBS  !    pass — INJURESOUL  ! 

What  ails  our  MIND  ! It  lacks  not  wit — 

Nor  "facts  "—like  " proofs  of  Holy  Writ !  "- 

That  AIRS  we  breathe  all  bases  yield, 

By  stress  of  heats,  to  FORMS  annealed  ! 

And  that — with  TIME  allowed — our  wills 

Might  mould  out  meadows,  rear  up  hills  : 

Yea  !  by  man's  means  !— -nor  "  buts  "  nor  "  ifs  "• 

Pile  Pelions !    Ossas  ! — Teneriffes ! 

And  yet,  yon  TenerifTe  abuts 

On  soils  which  AIR  from  Science  shuts ; 

MALARIA'S  Nessus  shirt,  which  eats 

Poor  Human  Strength,  with  AFRIC  heats ! . . . . 

What  REASON  is  this,  your  TOMS  enthrone  ? 
Your  BOBS,  by  ground-glass  lens,  make  known  ? 


INJURE  SOUL.  135 


What  worlds  are  these,  we  hoist  in  space, 
With  never  a  world  for  MAN'S  poor  race  ? 
With  never  an  aidful  thought  for  toils, 
Forefending  doom  from  seeds  and  soils  ; 
Forecasting  helps  for  human  ails, 
When  fell  MALARIA'S  force  assails  ? — 
Force  of  impoisoned  wind,  which  flows 
Wherever,  on  earth,  a  heat-force  glows  ; 
And  germs  of  death,  all  oceans  o'er, 
Bears  to  New  York — from  Jassicore  ! 80 

Yea  !  as  your  chemist  blindly  boils 

Converging  AIRS  with  blow-pipe  coils  ; 

And  gas  with  gas  attempts  to  guage  ! — 

Yea  !  as  his  fires  concentrate  rage  ; 

Till  vile  MALARIA  "beats  retreat," 

From  CARBON  flows  of  HEAT — pure  HEAT  ! 

NATURE  off-casting  foes,  to  pass 

By  chemic  names,  of  GAS  with  GAS  ! — 

While  SCIENCE  smugly  makes  her  note  ; 

"  One  fifth  OZONE — four  fifths  AZOTE  !  "  .  . . 

What  ails  us? Wherefore  learn  we  not 

Why  swart  Sahara  sands  are  hot  ? 
Why  salts  enrich  Timbuctoo's  marts, 
While  salt  from  half  her  soils  departs  ? 
Why  Niger's  watery  wealth  upwells, 
To  curse  with  bogs  her  woodland  dells  ? 


136  INJURESOUL. 

And  why.  since  Pharoahs  lived,  has  MIND 
Seen  turbid  Nile  through  deserts  wind ; 
Seen  Soudan's  lakes,  o'ergrown  with  grass, 
While  Soudan's  roads  through  jungles  pass  : 
Seen  floods  of  Nile,  on  Egypt's  verge, 
Fling  off  their  fats  in  Red  Sea  surge ; 
Nor  once  has  MIND,  for  Afric  needs, 
Shown  wedlock  ways — of  soils  with  seeds  ; 
Save  when  Lake  MCERIS  drank  from  NILE — 
And  priceless  muriates  drank,  the  while  ! .  — 
O  !  Science  !  SCIENCE  ! ...  .All  ages  cry  : 
What  ails  your  MIND  ?  what  blinds  your  EYE  ?  6 ' 

"  World's  Mind  !     Your  throne  of  REASON,  O  !  sage  ! 

Mock  throne,  of  kings  on  play-house  stage  ; 

Half  of  their  AIMS  but  paltry  plays  ; 

Half  of  their  ENDS  but  endless  maze  ! 

Kings  of  all  realms  in  SCIENCE  mapped  ; 

Glib  with  all  speech,  all  accents  apt ; 

But,  for  considerate  ends — or  aims — 

Which  man  from  man,  as  kindred,  claims  ; 

For  real  results — of  books  or  brains — 

What,  beyond  play  house  pomps,  remains  ? 

Some  measurers*  metes,  some  sailors'  charts ; 
Some  helps  for  hurt?,  some  aids  to  arts  ; 
Some  rhymes  of  bards,  some  lore  re-vamped, 
Some  guess  where  Cassars  killed  or  camped  ; 


INJURE  SOUL.  137 

Crank  chasing  crank,  with  crank  conceits  ; 
Cranks  cheated  by  self-cheating  cheats  ; 
All  whims,  all  whams,  of  wanton  wills, 
To  cure  all  curses — kill  all  ills—  62 
But  yet  no  LIGHT,  and  yet  no  PLAN, 
Man's  EARTH  to  reconcile — with  MAN  1 

Idle  surmise ! "When  poisoned  air 

Flows  in  all  skies,  its  doom  to  bear  ; 
And  in  all  climes,  from  airs  exsuct, 
Malaria  moves,  through  duct  and  duct  ; 
And  all  malarious  monads  course, 
Through  mortal  frames  with  fluid  force ; 
Now,  from  Sirocco's  desert  font, 
Toward  weltering  waves  of  Hellespont  ; 
Anon,  on  east  wind's  clammy  breath, 
Germing  with  cold,  consuming  death  ; 
Again — direct  as  sea-gull's  flight — 
From  tropic  swamps,  out-bearing  blight ! — 
Malarious  breeze,  on  direful  track, 
Flies  the  foul  flags  of  "  Yellow  Jack  ! " 
And  wafts  each  vile,  insidious  germ, 
In  swarms  of  unseen  zoo- sperm  ! 

HEAT  !  loving  HEAT  !  Sweet  Nature's  life  ! 
Light !  blessed  LIGHT  !  for  mankind  rife  ! 
Monads  of  purest  AIR — from  Heaven — 
For  lives,  for  loves,  for  joys,  were  given  ; 


138  IN  JURE  SOUL. 

'Till  MAN — from  Nature's  Laws  estranged — 
Their  MOVEMENT  marred — their  LIKENESS  changed ! 

Yea  !  ' '  Reason  enthroned  on  MIND  !  "  and  earth, 

With  blasted  soils,  through  half  her  girth  ! 

And  lands  manured  with  human  bones, 

At  nods  of  mannikins  on  thrones  ; 

And  then ....  what,  then  ?. . . .  Why,  BOB  s  "  ideas  ! 

And  TOM'S  conceits  ! — as  panaceas  ! 

Quack-nostrums  for  all  human  ails ! 

And  CHRIST  barred  out  by  pews  and  pales  ! 
Yea  !  the  sweet  CHRIST,  whose  image  waits 
In  poor  men's  forms,  at  rich  men's  gates, 
Barred  from  this  earth  "  OUR  FATHER"  gave — 
No  ground  his  own  ! not  even  his  grave  !    68 

Light !    Heat !   and  Air ! — O  !    mother's  prayer, 

My  childhood  learned  1 ....  "God  everywhere  ! "". . 

What  more  for  me  ?  when  SCIENCE  proves, 

How,  in  all  substance,  Heat-Force  moves  ? 

How  in  all  airs,  are  spores  and  sperms 

Of  all  things,  quick  for  seeds  and  germs  ?  .  „  . 

And,  if  ONE  LAW  of  LIKE  impel 
Each  natural  spore  with  LIKE  to  dwell  ; 
And,  to  assure  this,  CURRENTS  move — 
Currents  of  air — as  groove  with  groove ; 


1NJURESOUL.  \39 

FORCE  in  each  groove,  as  force  of  air  ; 
LIKE  in  each  groove,  as  freights  to  bear  ; 
What  more — as  LAWS  and  FORCE — I  ask, 
Shall  Nature  want,  for  Nature's  task  ? 
Task  of  CREATION  !  task,  to  make 
Each  spore,  each  germ,  some  structure  take  ! 
Structure  ordained  !  as  "  KIND  with  KIND  !  " 
In  earth,  in  air,  in  seas,  in — MIND  ! . . . .  64 

And,  if,  in  matter  of  salts,  abides 

Sodium,  as  chemic  test  decides ; 

And  if,  in  matter  of  sea-shore  shells, 

Lime-light  subsist,  as  chemist  tells ; 

Whence  come  they,  when  alembic  heats 

Make  airs  to  throb,  with  crucial  beats  1 

Whence  are  they  brought — toward  light  of  mind  ? 

I  answer :  each  one  from  its  "  KIND  !  " 

Air-currents  ever,  in  flows  distinct, 

Each  bearing  freights  of  "  kind  "  succinct ! 

Or  salts,  or  lime,  or  metal,  or  gas — 

Each,  in  its  current,  still  must  pass  ; 

Each,  in  its  current,  still  withheld  ; 

And  "  kind  "  from  "kind  "  by  LAW  impelled  ! 

Come  CHEMISTRY  !  Tis  yours  to  show 
Wherefore  and  whence  these  GASES  flow  ; 
Why  this  AZOTE,  with  deadly  powers. 
"Volumed  and  vast,"  o'er  mankind  lowers — 


O  INJURESOUL. 

And  what  shall  separate  CARBON  flows 
From  acrid  heats  of  airs  NITROSE  ; 
My  word  is  THIS  :  no  force  can  dyke 
Carbon  from  Nitrogen — but  "  LIKE  1  " 
And  as  one  LAW  of  LIKE  rules  air, 
So  rules  it  NATURE—  everywhere  ! 65 

And  wheresoever  it  CANNOT  sway, 
MAN  has  "corrupted  "  NATURE'S  way  ! 
Monads  have  MIXED,  in  airs  and  earth  ! 

ALIENS  commingling — birth  with  birth  ! 

Alack  ! . . . .  what  sound,  save  serpent-hiss, 
Whispers  thy  secrets ....  GENESIS  ? 

His  deadly  drug  DE  QUINCEY  chews, 
With  flowing  heats  of  blood  to  fuse  ; 
And  the  poor  "  Opium-Eater  "  flits 
Through  books,  as  if  he  WILLED  his  WITS  ! 
But  minds  there  are,  which  never  pored 
On  "  fancies,"  outside  "broker's  board  ;  " 
Minds,  by  no  books  allured,  beyond 
Ledgers  and  day-books,  closely  conned  ; 
No  opium  makes  up  "  thoughts"  for  these  ; 
Yet  brain -work  brings  them  "  Bright's  disease  ! 
When  loins  relax,  from  loosening  reins, 
And  kidneys  cast  up  force  for  brains  ; 
Till,  in  their  "  grand  advance,"  on  lines 
Of  mills,  and  marts,  and  meads,  and  mines, 


IN  JURE  SOUL.  141 

Down — like  a  deep-sea  lead — they  sink  \.t  . 
Tis  "  Bright's  disease  !  "  their  doctors— think ! 
Nor  reck,  nor  seek,  with  surgeon's  probe, 
Through  BRAINS  and  KIDNEYS — lobe  with  lobe — 
ONE  pregnant  "  fact !  " — as  WISDOM'S  wike  ! 
MALARIA'S  movement.  ..."  Like"  with  "  like ! ;  6<J 

But  never  I  ween — till  surgeon  learns 

What  occult  fire  through  NATURE  burns  ; 

What  flows  of  flame,  by  NATURE'S  course, 

Motions  of  hearts  and  brains  enforce  ; 

Shall  ails  of  mind  and  flesh  be  cured, 

With  NATURE'S  helps  for  hurts — assured  ! 

TRIUNE  !  through  all  Creation's  frame  ! — 

Air !  Light !  and  Heat ! their  Motor — FLAME 

Air,  in  all  skies,  with  ambient  vent L, 
Air,  in  all  earth,  as  molecules  blent ; 
Air,  in  all  seas,  which  heats  compress  ; 
Ice-bergs  by  HEATS  congealed,  no  less  ! 

Heat-force,  through  Movement,  brine  effumes, 
And  shapes  of  basic  salts  assumes; 
Whence  sodium  parts,  and  silex  flows, 
Metals  to  mould,  and  sands  compose. 

Heat-force,  no  less,  in  deeps  of  seas, 
Crustacea's  coils  and  crypts  decrees  ; 


142  INJURESOUL, 

Slowly,  and  softly,  lime-light  glints, 
For  lines  of  shapes,  and  shades  of  tints  ! 

Lime-light !  in  amber's  brightness  known, 
Lime-light !  which  stirs  in  diamond  stone  ; 
Whence  and  what  is  it,  save  NATURE'S  LIFE, 
In  all  airs  flowing — in  all  things  rife  ? 

All  textures,  tinctures,  plexures,  plies — 
By  heat-force  wrought,  from  seas  and  skies  ; 
All  webs  and  woofs  of  terrene  frame, 
Light-units  !  air-units  ! — moved  by  FLAME  I 

What  news  is  this  ? •'  Twas  long-since  proved, 

That  LIKE  toward  LIKE,  by  NATURE,  moved  1 
"Atomic  Theory  !" — conned  by  schools, 
Ere  Dalton  shaped  Berzelian  rules  ! 
"Affinities" — for  mote  with  mote — 
Men  guessed,  when  Anaxagoras  wrote  ! 
"Cohesion"  called — of  grain  with  grain  1 — 
"Attraction  !"  hailed,  by  Newton's  brain  l» ... 

What  odds  ? Each  scholiast  sets  up  sike  ! 

Each  index  points  toward — "LiKE  with  LIKE!" 
And  it  is  mine,  to  day — with  faith 
In  SINAI'S  LIGHT  my  steadfast  staith  ! — 
Here  to  maintain  this  TRUTH — that  CAUSE 
Dwells — co-eternally  with  LAWS  ! — 
Twin-Laws  !  wherefrom,  with  ceaseless  FORCE, 
MOVEMENT  !  toward  LIKE  !  is  Nature's  Course  ! 


IN  JURE  SOUL.  143 

Like  Law  and  Law  of  Movement !  twinn'd, 

As  HEAT  With  LIGHT as  AIR  with  WIND  ! 

And — as  my  Reason  affirms — these  LAWS, 
With  FLAME-FORCE,  constitute  "  FIRST  CAUSE  !  " 
And  I  accept,  this  hour,  as  ' '  FACTS," 
Solid  as  "  reasoning  mind  "  exacts — 
That,  in  these  AIRS  we  breathe,  all  fires 
Exist  forever,  and  show  their  spires 
Wherever,  as  FORCE,  a  LIGHT  shall  strike  ; 
HEAT  unto  LIGHT  lured — LIKE  to  LIKE  ! 

And,  from  these  AIRS — as  breath  we  claim — 

All  things  are  wrought,  through  Force  of  Flame  ! 

All  growth,  all  forms,  all  stirs,  of  things  ; 

All  organisms,  with  all  their  springs  ; . 

Wherefore  descant  ? . . . .  All  else  I  merge 
In  HIM  !    "THE  WORD  !  "  my  DEMI-URGE  ! 
And,  on  my  knees — my  nature  awed — 
Name  HIM,  with  Moses .  "  SPIRIT  of  GOD  ! " 

Cramped  are  my  words  by  metric  frame — 
Faintly  illumed  by  WISDOM'S  flame  ; 
Feebly,  indeed,  may  MIND  transmit 
Language  of  LAWS  by  NATURE  writ  1 
And  minds  are  rare,  and  rarer  yet 
Are  SOULS,  which  turn  from  track-way  set ; 
So,  haply,  whiles  I  wend  my  ways, 
From  stalking  stilts  of  studious  days  ; 


144  INJURESOUL. 

Shadows  of  stilted  minds  shall  cast 
Long  lines  of  dusk  on  roadways  passed  ; 
And  "  pygmies  perched  on  Alps"  may  WILL 
Their  giant  walks,  as  "pygmies  still  1 " 
But  this  I  ask  of  REASON — on  MIND  : 
Tell  me,'what  "  Laws  of  Force  "  could  bind, 
With  rule  so  firm,  with  reach  so  wide, 
All  things  to  MAKE,  all  things  to  GUIDE — 
And  means  provide,  and  METHOD  strike — 
As  ' '  LAW  of  MOVEMENT  !  "  "  Law  of  LIKE  !  " 

Tell  me,  what  else,  for  NATURE'S  needs — 
In  silts  of  soils,  and  salts  of  seeds — 
What  else,  for  gems,  and  ores,  and  flowers, 
To  deck  this  gladsome  world  of  ours — 
What  more,  what  else,  but  LAWS  and  FORCE, 
Completion  planned,  for  Nature's  course  ? 

Molecules  they  move,  for  layers  of  rocks  , 

And  fibrous  flecks — for  fleece  of  flocks  ; 

"  LIKE  unto  LIKE  !  "  through  Nature's  works  , 

No  unit  stirred,  with  jars  or  jerks  ; 

But  moved  by  force  of  flowing  heat, 

As  grains  of  flour,  to  breads  accrete  ; 

And  foams  of  seas  to  granites  grow  ; 

And  fires  of  seas  in  sapphires  glow  ; 

Their  saline  flows,  when  sands  combine, 

Returned — as  LIKE  with  LIKE — to  brine  ! 


INJURESOUL,  145 


So,  from  all  seas,  on  shoreward  gales, 
MOVEMENT  their  ambient  brine  exhales  ; 
Seas,  on  ascending  airs  ascend  ; 
"  LIKE  unto  LIKE,"  as  chlorides,  blend  ; 
Their  salts  released,  by  filtering  heat, 
Fresh  rain  they  make,  for  verdure  sweet  ; 
Yet,  in  these  schools,  which  MINDS  conduct, 
Our  babes  are  taught  that  salts  are  sucked 
From  soils,  by  flowing  streams,  and  these 
Bear  freights  of  salt — to  salt  all  seas  ! — 
Yea  !  though  each  child,  at  sea-side  rills, 
May  quaff  sweet  waters  earth  distils  ; 
Fresh  water  wells  on  island  leas, 
Bubbling  from  sands  engirt  by  seas  ! 67 

What  now,  if  SCIENCE — as  COMMON  SENSE — 
Saw  salts  in  seas. . .  .and,  reasoning  thence, 
Saw  salts  in  shells  . . .  .and  simply  traced 
Shores  unto  sands,  on  sea-salts  based  ? 

What  now,  if  Science — above  constraints — 
Saw  the  same  HEAT,  which  CORAL  paints, 
Burnt  into  silicates,  by  flares 
Of  fires  on  China's  porcelain  wares  ? 

What,  now,  if  AIR,  in  chimney-chute, 
Coal-grime  accretes  ;  for  acrid  soot  ; 
And  the  same  air,  in  purer  flows, 
Carbon  accretes,  as  diamond  glows? 


145  INJURE  SOUL. 

Yea  !  the  same  HEATS,  in  AIR,  constrain 
Clouds  to  express  their  freshening  rain  ; 
Lightnings  to  course,  and  clouds  congest  ; 
Wild  thunders  in  their  HEATS  comprest  ! 

And  if  those  heats  comprest  shall  mass — 
Like  heats  in  sands,  which  fuse  as  glass, — 
Hark,  now  !  while  fires  explosive  roar — 
And  SCIENCE  notes — one  "  meteor  "  more  ! 

And  SAVANTS  shake  their  sapient  heads, 

Doubtful,  if  AIR  such  substance  sheds ! 

As  if  ten  thousand  sapient  minds 
(By  crucial  test,  which  reason  binds  ! ) 
Had  not  already,  in  stress  of  flames, 
Smelted  ten  thousand  meteor-frames  I 
Yea  !  with  each  TEST  of  airs  we  note, 
When  "  solid  "  sinks,  and  "  fluids"  float ! 
Yea  !  with  each  chemic  test,  to  prove 
How  fires  each  separate  substance  move — 
"LiKE  unto  LIKE  !" — till  iron  or  brass 

Fuses  in  fumes  of  mounting  gas  ! 

"  Hard  facts,"  my  friends,  from  fluids  osmose, 
To  build  a  small-sized  chemic  Cosmos  !68 

My  Song  subsides  ! If  echoes  dwell, 

Voiceful,  beyond  my  hermit  cell  ; 
Voiceful,  where  words  of  mine  shall  strike, 
To  lift  their  burthen — "  LIKE  with  LIKE  !" — 


INJURE  SOUL.  147 

So  mote  it  be  ! Some  words  of  weight 

May  wait — with  thoughts  of  weight — to  mate  ! . . . . 

I  make  no  claims,  at  censor's  hand, 

Save  this  :  By  all  my  words  I  stand  ! — 

And  if  light  minds,  with  curt  contempt, 

Count  me  from  censorship  exempt — 

Or  if  bright  minds,  with  brusque  rebuff, 

Sum  up  my  simple  creed,  as — "  Stuff  !  " — 

So  mote  it  be  ! When  LIGHT  rejects 

Light,  such  as  FAITH  of  mine  reflects, 
Let  LIGHT  confute  ! — My  word  shall  bide. 
While  flows  yon  Gulf  Stream's  tropic  tide  ; 
And  walls  of  waters  straitwise  dyke 
Heats  within  heats,  and  LIKE  with  LIKE  !t9 


INJURE  SOUL. 


FYTTE  TWELFTH. 

Wide  are  all  ways  by  pilgrims  worn  ; 
Illumed  with  lights  by  pilgrims  borne  ; 
And  faintly  flares  my  lifted  lamp, 
And  feebly  fares  my  onward  tramp  ; 
What  odds  ? . . . .  Beyond  this  foot-worn  pike, 
LIGHT  dwells  ETERNAL  ! — "  LIKE  with  LIKE  ! 

And  here,  with  lifted  pen,  I  pause, 
As  homeward  traveller  bridle  draws, 
When  evening  falls  on  forward  ways, 
And  lights  he  sees,  through  twilight  haze  ; 
Lights  of  an  old-time  bridge  he  knows — 
Beyond  that  old-time  bridge — REPOSE  ! . . . . 

"  LIKE  unto  LIKE  !    ...  So  swiftly  sure, 
One  air-breath  makes  the  pure — IMPURE  ! 
Scent  follows  taint,  on  cleanest  grass, 
And  sweetest  showers  feed  foul  morass  ; 
And  yet  proud  REASON  ignores  a  fact 
So  trite,  it  marks  each  transient  act ; 
Fact  of  unchanging  proof— that  nought 
Stirs,  but  by  AIR-FORCE — not  even  THOUGHT  ; 
Yea  1  that  all  thoughts,  all  joys,  all  pains, 
All  thrills  of  hearts,  and  throbs  of  brains  ; 


INJURESOUL.  149 

All  substances,  and  shapes,  and  shades, 

Known  unto  MIND,  by  metes  and  grades  ; 

Are  wrought  by  AIR — or  blent  with  it ; 

' '  Fitness  decreed  where  fittings  fit  1  " 

Yea  !  REASON  ignores  and  SCIENCE  scouts 

This  TRUTH — to  "  make  up  mind  " — with  "  doubts  ! ''  ™ 

First  of  Two  LAWS  ! — Twin-made,  when  birth, 
By  DEITY  ruled,  made  Heaven  and  Earth  ! . . . . 
But — before  Heaven,  as  Heaven,  had  place — 
Twin-Laws,  of  GOD-HEAD  !  throned  in — SPACE  ' 
Twin  Laws  of  DEITY  !    whence  they  make 
ESSENCE    of  LAWS for  DEITY'S  sake  ! n 

"  Movement  law  !  " — "Like  law  i  " . . . .  And  these  twain 

Twinn'd,  in  Creation's  textile  chain  ! . . . 

And  in  ETERNE  EXISTENCE  twinn'd, 

Ere  Earth  was  made — or  man  had  sinned  I 

So,  GOD-HEAD  bides  !   within  that  bar 
Of  INFINITE  LIGHT,  whence  all  things  are  ! 
Sole  Source  of  Being  !  and  by  His  laws , 
Shielded— as  Life's  Immaculate  CAUSE  ! 
FORE-FENDED  !  by  his  Laws  Divine  ! 
That  his  Eternal  Light  shall  shine- 
Yet  never  a  unit,  of  all  that  LIGHT, 
With  ELSE  than  unit  of  LOVE  unite  ! 
Love  !    His  Ineffable  Heart !  whence  came 
His  Sacred  WORD  !    my  LIGHT  !    my  FLAME  !  "'2 


1 50  IN  JURE  SOUL. 

"All  things  were  made  by  HIM  !  "  said  one 
Who  "  leaned  upon  His  breast  " — Saint  John  ! 

"  He  was  WITH  GOD!" — "WAS  GOD!" my  WORD 

"  He  was  made  flesh!  "...  .Saint  John  averred  ! 

So  DEITY  dwells  for  me  ! So  shine 

His  LIGHTS,  to  teach  this  MIND  of  mine — 
What  seers  have  seen — what  sages  write  ; 
"  Gospel  "  which  John  said  :  "  GOD  is  LIGHT  !  " 

Yea!  " God  is  LIGHT  !  "...  .And  His  own  Laws 
Constitute  Him  His  Own  First  Cause  ! 
For  that  His  INFINITE  LIGHT  shall  Be  ! 
God-head ! no  LIKE  like  HIM  ....  but  HE  ! 

Life,  from  His  LIGHT,  all  natures  draw  !  - 

Himself  His  only  LIKE by  LAW  ! 

Yet,  in  HIMSELF,  as  FLAME,  He  dwells — 
FLAME-FORCE  !  and  MOVEMENT  still  impels  ! 

Posit  this  IMMANENCE  !  which  flows,  ™ 
As  FLAME,  in  Light's  ETERNE  REPOSE  ; 
And  we  discern — in  ceaseless  course — 
Creative  GOD  !  His  WORD  !  His  FORCE  ! 

So,  those  High  Laws  for  aye  constrain 
All  NATURAL  things,  by  flexile  chain  ; 
So  unto  KIND  shall  KIND  consort — 
And  kindred  MOVEMENTS  kindred  court ; 


INJURE  SOUL.  151 

\ 
Fish,  with  its  kind,  in  seas  to  swim —   ' 

Bird,  with  its  kind,  in  airs  to  skim  ; 
Life,  from  some  semblance  likeness  take  ; 
Units  with  units  union  make  ! 

All  NATURAL  things  !    all  NATURAL  stirs — 
Untainted  NATURE  claimed  as  HERS  ; 
Till  WILLS  and  WAYS,  by  mankind  wooed, 
Brought  aims  and  ends  which  Nature  rued  ; 
And  minds  perverse  their  "Reason  enthroned," 
Belittling  LAWS  by  GOD-HEAD  owned  ! 
And  souls,  ensnared  by  sense  perverse, 
Walked  wilful  ways,  from  worse  to  worse  !14 

LAWS  owned  by  GOD-HEAD  !  'Twas  my  word  ! 
Haply,  by  Reason  of  Manhood  stirred  ! — 
Haply,  "by  LIGHTS  my  mind  has  known, 
From  SCRIPTURE  words,  by  WISDOM  shown ; 
When,  in  my  walks — as  DAVID  said — 
"  His  candle  shined  upon  my  head  1" 

And,  as  my  REASON  its  LIKE  may  claim, 
So  shall  my  sight  see  SINAI'S  FLAME  ! 
For  well  I  ween,  no  fires  of  mind 
Aught,  save  their  LIKE,  in  LIGHT  may  find  1 

Yea  !  though  I  soared,  like  cherubim — 
And  songs  I  sang  like  seraphim — 
^  Nor  songs,  nor  prayers,  nor  wit,  nor  will, 
Could  win,  from  LIGHT  SUPREME  one  thrill  ! — 


1 52  INJURESOUL. 

Except  my  SOUL — as  flame  with  flame — 
LIKE,  of  ITSELF,  from  LIGHT  might  claim  ! — 
Except,  as  MAN — with  MANHOOD  kin — 
Might  kiss,  for  kiss,  from  GOD-HEAD  win  ! — 
For  that,  as  Manhood,  GOD-HEAD  came  : 
Spake,  died,  and  rose  again  ! — His  FLAME  ! 7B 

Yea  !  and  between  my  SOUL  and  HIM, 

Before  whose  LIGHT  all  stars  are  dim  ; 

Yea  !  and  between  my  mind's  ascent, 

And  the  WHITE  LIGHT,  from  GOD-HEAD  sprent  ; 

Soundless  abysses  of  LIGHT  might  flow, 

Nor  yet  one  ray  my  REASONING  know  ; 

Save  as  those  Sacred  LAWS  assure  : 

"  LIKE  unto  LIKE  !  " PURE  unto  PURE  ! — 

What  else  His  SHIELD  ?  my  GOD  of  LIGHT  ! — 
Warding  from  HIM  your  fire-damp  blight ! . . .  . 
What  else  enshrines  His  LOVE — from  Hate  ? 
His  LIGHT  enthrones — IMMACULATE  ! 
His  "  GOODNESS  "  guards — from  alien  ills  ? 
His  WILL  confirms — o'er  alien  wills  ?. . . . 

LAWS  owned  by  GOD-HEAD  ! . . . .  Yea  !  when  GOD 
Was  GOD  ! . . .  .before  one  human  clod — 
Made  by  His  WORD — its  eyes  upturned, 
To  mark  where  summer  lightnings  burned  ! 
When  in  His  INFINITE  LIGHT,  HE  dwelt, 
Ere  men  by  rules  and  rubrics,  knelt ;  — 


INJURE  SOUL.  153 

And  LAWS,  no  less — LIGHT  LAWS,  no  less — 
Swayed  His  INEFFABLE  BLESSEDNESS  ! 76 

Ere  yet  the  All-making  "Spirit  of  Light" 
Made  ADAM  and  EVE  !  made  NATURE  bright  I 
Made  brutish  forms,  with  brains  to  fit ; 
And  on  all  brains  His  LIGHT-LAWS  writ : 
Light-laws,  and  Life-laws,  writ  with  rain 
Of  heavenly  fires,  for  human  brain  ; 
And,  for  each  brain  of  brute,  designed — 
To  the  full  compass  of  its — MIND  ! . . . . 

LAWS  !  owned  by  GOD-HEAD  !  while,  as  yet, 
Nature  was  NOT  !   TWIN-LAWS  !    which  met — 
As  "  GOD  with  GOD  !  " — His  LIFE  DIVINE  ! 
Light  !    Heat !  and  Flame  !  His  NATURE  !  Trine  I 

All-Wise!    All-Good!    All  Pure  !    His  WILL! 
Made  Adam  and  Eve  His  LIKE  ! — And  still 
Were  Woman  and  Man  as  CHRIST  above  ! — 
Their  MINDS  all  LIGHT — their  Hearts  all  LOVE  ! — 
Had  REASON,  as  LIKE  to  LIKE,  inclined, 
Heart  unto  Heart — and  MIND  to  MIND  J 


Rest  thee  my  PEN  ! With  many  a  thought, 

Voiceless,  as  yet,  my  mind  was  fraught ! . . . . 
And  in  my  ways  of  words,  ere  long, 
Thoughts  I  may  utter,  as  NATURE'S  song  ! 


1 54  2NJURESOUL. 

When  warm  winds  blow — as  book  repeats — 
Yon  Gulf  Stream  swells,  with  tropic  heats  ; 
Warm  winds  have  wooed  my  flowing  WILL, 
And  tropic  tides  allure  me  still  ! 

Haply,  where  thoughtful  minds  may  share, 
Sweet  heats,  effused  from  lights  in  air, 
Words  unto  thoughts  may  still  be  given, 
And  earthly  airs  make  "  lights  in  heaven  ! " 
MOVEMENT-LAW  ! — LIKE  LAW  !  These  my  claim 
Light  !  Heat !  and  Air  !— TRIUNE  as  FLAME  ! 
Front- wise,  with  SCRIPTURE    clasped  in  hand, 
By  these  TWIN-LAWS,  my  soul  shall  stand  ! 

FINIS  ! . . . .  But  first  this  word  I  write  : 
SCIENCE  !    I  challenge  you  L.Give  LIGHT  ! 
You  scoff  my  Christian  Faith,  in  scribes 
Who  wrote  some  words  for  Hebrew  Tribes  ! 
You  swing  your  suns  and  systems  out, 

By  your  own  Laws  ! Your  Laws  I  DOUBT  ! 

Your  boast  of  TRUTH  I've  heard  too  long : 
Give  me  now  "  confirmation  strong 
As  proofs  of  HOLY  WRIT  !  " ....  or  cease 
Your  baseless  claims and  hold  your  peace  ! 

No  boast  is  mine  !...No  crude  discourse, 
Of  movements  guessed — of  unfelt  force  ! 
LIGHT  I  uplift !  my  FORCE  my  CAUSE  ! 
LAWS  I  uphold  !  omnific  LAWS  ! 


INJURESOUL.  155 

And  if  your  MIND  my  FAITH  attacks, 
As  Faith  no  book  but  BIBLE  backs  ; 
Still  shall  my  terse  rejoinder  plead — 
"  Show  me  what  BIBLE  backs  your  creed  !  " 

What  can  you  bring — but  books  of  MAN  ! — 
Writ,  and  re-writ,  and  blotted  again  ? 
Doubted,  denied,  upraised,  down-trod  ? . . . . 
Here  is  MY  Book  ? — my  WORD  of  GOD  ! 

Scorn  it,  ye  Schools  ! — 'Tis  MY  reliance  ! 

My  LAW  !  my  FORCE  I ...  .Yea  ! — and  my  SCIENCE  ! 


FINIS. 


NOTES. 


NOTE  I,  page  5,  line  2. — A  lier-in-wait  slays  man  or  woman  with 
steel  or  lead.  INJURESOUL  lies  in  wait  for  weak  souls  ;  his  avowed 
purpose,  to  disrupt  churches,  destroy  faith  in  God,  loosen  sacred 
ties,  disturb  society.  ' '  Liberty  of  Speech  !  "  is  his  war-word.  It 
is  mine. 

NOTE  2,  page  6,  line  26. — His  Lectures,  in  affront  of  religious 
Faith,  array  certain  formulations  called  SCIENCE.  He  scoffs  at 
MOSES,  the  oldest  historian  on  record.  Mosaic  cosmogony  accords 
with  facts  of  chemical  knowledge.  But  there  is  little  authority  for 
"scientific  "  statements,  beyond  an  opinion  of  this  or  that  philoso- 
pher; often  contradicted  by  another.  Injuresoul  demands  testimony 
sustaining  Mosaic  statements.  It  is  found  in  Science.  Let  him  show 
Scripture  evidence  for  all  his  scientific  views. 

NOTE  3,  page  7,  line  16.  —  Many  "cranks  "  have  assumed  to  be 
"  Messiah."  Lunacy  accounts  for  fanatics ;  it  accounts  for 
infidels. 

NOTE  4,  page  7,  line  28.— This  "  idea"  of  "  Reason,"  as  "  God," 
has  never  extended  much  beyond  aberrated  "minds."  INJURE- 
SOUL, and  his  few  fore-runners,  abandon  roadways  traversed  by 
mankind  since  our  race  began  its  marches.  In  their  by-ways,  jungles 
and  swamps,  they  gather  unhappy  tramps,  to  audit  unavailing 
whines  against  religion.  Honest  "  Doubt "  and  sincere  "  Inquiry'' 
are  not  encouraged  by  them.  Their  business  is  to  slur  piety,  slan- 
der religious  teachers,  and  rant  against  churches.  Bigots  in  their 

157 


158  INJURESOUL. 

way,  they  tolerate  no  "reasoner,"  unless  he  joins  their  outlawed 
gangs. 

NOTE  5,  page  8,  line  28. — Solar  combustion  is  argued,  because  of 
heated  air-flows.  Moonshine  is  not  heating  to  air  ;  so  Science  refers 
it  to  reflected  solar  rays.  Yet  our  mundane  experience  of  heat,  re- 
flected from  mountain-walls,  is  increased  heat.  Under  spectric 
light,  some  stars  appear  hueless,  like  the  moon,  others  glow  with 
variegated  colors.  Is  their  sheen  reflex,  or  from  igneous  matter 
direct  ?  Guess-work  halts  here.  Achromatic  lenses  fail  to  enlighten 
regarding  polychrome  rays  of  one  star,  and  this  or  that  hue  in 
rays  of  another.  A  pyrotechnist  knows  what  ingredients  of  fire 
make  aurate  showers,  white  light  coruscations,  and  chromatic 
lights.  Let  INJURESOUL  question  Science.  When  she  enlightens 
him  concerning  materials  of  star-fires,  he  will  not  need  to  inquire 
for  supplies  of"  corpse-lights,"  "  will-o'-  th'-wisp"  lights,  and  "  fire- 
damp "  generally.  He  may  find  them,  where  philosophers  find  star- 
rays  ;  in  the  "  air  "  we  breathe,  and  its  ingredients. 

NOTE  6,  page  9,  line  26. — Faith  shrinks,  appalled,  in  witness  of 
repulsive  natural  phenomena.  Forces  and  elements,  hurtful  to 
mankind,  affright  our  senses.  We  realize  an  existence  of  EVIL. 
Faith  in  our  MAKER  cannot  reconcile  ns  to  calm  contemplation  of 
Such  EVIL.  We  wonder  why  God  permits  it ;  marvel  whence  it 
came.  Shall  we  ask  what  causes  crime,  vice,  disease,  death? 
Malignities  of  human  creatures  are  results  of  human  mind  and 
•will;  ferocities  of  wild  animals  are  not  less  results  of  their  wild 
wills.  But  from  what  WILL  are  whirlwinds,  tornadoes,  poi- 
sonous winds,  icebergs,  volcanic  fires,  resultant  ?  I  affirm  that  man- 
kind only  should  be  held  responsible  for  every  evil  which  afflicts 
humanity,  or  oppresses  earth,  which  God  made  for  humanity.  It 
is  my  concern,  in  these  notes  and  elsewhere,  to  vindicate  NATURE, 
and  her  MAKER,  from  charges  made  by  Infidelity,  and  admitted  by 
many  believers  in  a  Beneficent  Deity,  who  belie  their  belief  by 
speaking  of  human  afflictions  as  "  dispensations  of  Providence  !  " 


INJURE  SOUL.  159 

"Providence"  does  not  "provide"  curses  in  lieu  of  blessings. 
Goodness  never  "  dispenses  "  evil.  Purity  cannot  ordain  or  permit 
impurities,  either  in  Humanity  or  Nature.  "If  thou  doest  not 
well,"  said  God  to  Cain — "sin  lieth  at  thy  door." 

NOTE  7,  page  10,  line  14. — Mobs,  under  conditions  of  "liberty 
and  equality,"  have  exhibited  infuriated  wills,  at  divers  times.  Wild 
wills  are  epidemic.  "  Lynch  law  "  is  evidence  of  this.  But  French 
"reasoners,"  of  a  higher  class  than  those  which  composed  revolu- 
tionary "  Clubs  "  in  France,  were  inciters  of  the  ignorant  populace 
to  sanguinary  excesses.  Voltaire,  Volney,  Mirabeau,  Marat,  Ro- 
bespierre, Couthon,  Clootz,  enforced,  as  "Free  Thinkers,"  that 
"  Reign  of  Terror"  which  enthroned  a  lewd  woman  over  French 
"mind."  Such  "  ideas  "  as  INJURESOUL  advances  are  not  removed 
far  from  Russian  "Nihilism."  "Fire  damp"  is  a  basic  ingredient 
of  "dynamite." 

NOTE  8,  page  12,  line  2. — Forms  of  religion,  rubrics,  and  church 
systems,  may  be  open  to  criticism.  But  the  "essence  of  religion  " 
is  epitomized  in  those  Divine  sentences:  "  Love  one  another  !  God 
is  Love!"  INJURESOUL  is  well  aware  that  CHRISTIANITY  is  no 
more  or  less  than  this  "  essence  of  religion."  Yet  he  goes  about  as 
an  avowed  enemy  of  CHEISTIANITY:  Were  his  professions  of  love 
for  mankind  to  be  credited  as  facts,  INJURESOUL  would  be  a  Chris- 
tian. But  his  "mind  "and  "will"  determine  his  way  as  a  "re- 
former." He  essays  to  confuse  ignorance  with  mendacities;  for  he 
knows  that  religious  tenets  inculcate  good  morals,  enjoin  correct 
principles,  and  encourage  brotherly  love;  that  religious  preaching 
rebukes  wickedness  and  praises  virtue;  and  that  even  hypocritic 
Christians  simulate  goodness;  while  avowed  "Free-thinkers,"  as  a 
rule,  are  regardless  or  defiant  of  social  morals. 

NOTE  9,  page  15,  line  18, — Emerson's  mysterious  epigram  of  a 
"  red  slayer"  who  "  thinks  he  slays,"  may  apply  to  "  Infidelity  "  it- 
self, with  its  periodical  and  puerile  onslaughts. 


160  INJURESOUL. 

NOTE  10,  page  16,  line  6.— Sir  John  Herschell's  labors,  as  "  As- 
tronomer Royal,"  were  aided  by  a  sister, appointed  "  assistant  astron- 
omer." She  filled  a  position  to  "sweep  cobwebs  "from  celestial 
chambers;  but  her  woman's  clear  eye-sight  was  obscured  by  star- 
dust,  as  her  brother's  vision  was.  She  learned  the  trade  of  a  STAB- 
SEER.  Star-seers  learn  astronomy  according  to  Kepler.  They  posit 
orbs  in  orbits,  moving  through  "  SPACE;"  each  orb  encompassed 
by  its  own  air,  or  "atmosphere;"  this  atmosphere  globular,  and 
rolling  (like  a  solid  ball,)  in  a  whirl,  while  it  advances  on  its  circuit. 
Every  star  is  thus  incessantly  whirling  and  advancing,  in  and  through 
a  supposititious  substance,  not  agreed  upon,  but  supposed  to  be  "  im- 
ponderable; "  this  substance  answering  to  SPACE.  We  are  instruct- 
ed that  celestial  bodies  of  immense  weights  and  magnitudes  are  up- 
held and  moved  in  Space  at  rates  of  calculated  velocity ;  and  that 
sidereal  movements  are  regulated  by  two  laws,  one  opposing  the 
other  ;  one  law  forcing  orbs  apart ;  another  law  constraining  them 
toward  centres  of  systems,  or  central  orbs.  We  are  advised  of  a 
force  controlled  by  these  two  conflicting  laws;  a  force  termed 
"  Gravity;  "  which  attracts  the  matter  composing  each  orb,  to  the 
centre  of  that  orb,  while  central  orbs,  or  suns,  not  only  attract,  but 
repel  from  centres  of  their  systems.  Science  assigns  no  cause  for 
these  conflicting  laws  to  ordinate  them;  no  cause  for  the  operation  of 
"gravity,"  as  an  attracting  force  ;  and  we  are  left  to  infer  that  no 
law  or  force  has  any  influence  on  that  "  imponderable  ether  "  com- 
posing Space  ;  but  that  Space,  as  a  substance,  is  unmoved  by 
forces  that  rule  "  atmospheres ;  "  in  effect,  that  a  substance,  which 
is  the  medium  of  all  sidefeal  movements,  always  remains  unacted  upon 
by  whirling  and  rolling  orbs  and  atmospheres.  Yet  that  "  Space" 
must  be  substantial  as  AIR,  has  been  admitted,  of  late.  Prof. 
Tyndall  tells  us,  "its  vibrations  are  as  real,  and  as  truly  mechanical, 
as  the  breaking  of  sea- waves  upon  a  shore."  And  Prof.  Williams 
remarks,  that  "  the  ether  of  to-day,  with  its  penetration  and  its  ma- 
terial action  without  material  properties,  has  merely  taken  the  place 


INJURE  SOUL.  161 

of  the  equally  imaginary  phlogiston,  caloric,  electric,  and  magnetic 
fluids,  the  '  imponderables'  of  the  past.  At  present  the  explanations 
of  the  simple  phenomena  of  lights  and  heats,"  he  continues,  "are 
comparatively  more  difficult  to  understand  and  to  account  for,  than 
the  facts  mathematicians  attempt  to  elucidate." 

De  Quincey  once  remarked,  very  aptly,  that  even  our  "exact 
science, "MATHEMATICS,  has  not  a  foot  to  stand  upon  which  is  not 
purely  metaphysical ! " 

NOTE  11,  page  16,  line  14. —Actual  disturbances  are  noted  and 
guessed  about ;  no  guess  is  ventured  concerning  Force  resident  in 
this  medium  wherein  heavenly  bodies  are  supposed  to  gyrate.  Yet 
Newton  based  his  theory  of  "light,"  on  the  subsistence  of  ether  as  a 
corpuscular  substance ;  and  Huygens,  opposing  Newton's  theory, 
accepted  some  medium  of  "light"  as  a  "vibratory"  substance,  im- 
pelling luminous  waves.  Philosophy  is  compelled  to  take  into  ac- 
count the  existence  of  something,  to  swim  "heavenly  bodies"  in. 
Air  was  left  out  ;  because  each  orb  makes  an  air-bubble  of  its 
own  atmosphere,  revolving  in  that  bubble.  Something  must  sub- 
sist between  these  round  "atmospheres;  "  just  as  air  is  subsistent 
between  peas  in  a  sack  (since  "  Nature  abhors  a  vacuum").  So 
the  "  thinkers  "  guessed  an  unknown  substance  ;  "  an  imponderable 
substance,"  lighter  than  air;  with  all  "  heavy  weights  "  of  their  im- 
agination swinging  in  it.  Professor  STAHL  was  bold  enough  to  be- 
lieve that  this  hypothetical  element,  answering  to  SPACE,  was  "pure 
6re,"  and  he  called  it  the  "  principle  of  combustion"  or  "inflam- 
mability,", as  " phlogiston."  But  no  scientist  has  attempted  to  account 
for  its  origin.  It  is  self-existent,  controlled  by  no  stated  laws,  always 
in  repose,  under  supposititious  weights,  and  whirls,  and  wheels  of 
revolving  stars  and  stellar  atmospheres.  Can  INJURESOUL  refer 
us  to  any  authorities  for  the  subsistence  of  SPACE,  as  a  substance  ? 
Or,  if  it  be  no  substance,  for  his  evidence  that  celestial  bodies,  each 
by  itself,  subsist  in  vacua  ?  He  demands  my  authority  for  a  Scrip- 
tural  heaven.  I  ask  his  authority  for  an  astronomical  one. 


1 62  INJURESOUL. 

NOTE  12,  page  19,  line  22. — Science  unsettles  Faith,  by  advanc 
ing  errors  as  facts  of  astronomy  and  geology.  Chemistry  deals  with 
facts  of  evidence;  but  there  is  no  way  for  an  astronomer  or  geologist 
to  approach  Bible  Faith,  with  indubitable  facts  advanced  as  results 
of  positive  provings,  under  practical  experiment.  Hence  it  is  that 
sidereal  science  is  irreconcileable  with  Christianity.  It  can  rest  its 
claims  to  truth  on  human  "  Belief"  alone;  belief  in  assumptions  of 
one  man  or  another ;  belief  in  theories,  unsustained  by  evidence 
which  SENSE  demands.  Astronomy  is  Faith  in  Copernicus !  It  is 
Faith  in  Newton,  who  confessed  himself  unsettled  in  his  own 
faith;  Faith  in  Galileo,  who  recanted  his  belief;  Faith  in  Kepler,  who 
changed  his  belief  repeatedly.  How  can  human  guess-work,  ac- 
knowledged as  such,  be  reconciled  with  Christian  Faith,  founded 
on  facts  of  evidence  in  Nature  ? 

NOTE  13,  page  21,  line  16. — Divine  Providence  placed  earth,  as 
Nature's  domain,  under  supervision  and  sovereignty  of  mankind. 
All  belongings  of  Nature  were  subjected,  by  DIVINE  WILL,  to  the 
WILL  of  man,  and  human  MIND  was  to  regulate  natural  forces  for 
human  good.  MAN  and  NATURE  are  subject  to  Divine  Laws.  If 
man  ignores  or  antagonizes  these  Laws,  they  are  still  obeyed  by 
Nature.  Her  movement  proceeds.  Controlling  it  for  his  own  ad- 
vantage, man  helps  Nature.  If  he  neglects,  perverts,  or  combats 
Nature's  Movement,  he  hurts  Nature.  Natural  Forces  are  unceasing- 
ly in  operation.  Heats  in  soils  under  cultivation  assure  supplies  of 
Nature's  products.  If  men  abandon  cultivation,  and  apply  their  en- 
ergies to  war-work  instead  of  peace-work ;  devastating  land-areas ;  de- 
stroying trees,  purveyors  of  moisture;  and  permitting  water-ways  to 
become  obstructed;  what  is  resultant  ?  Harm  to  mankind;  harm  to 
Nature.  Desert  and  swamp  displace  arable  soil.  Nature's  forces 
MUST  go  on  with  Movement  Stagnant  water,  congested  earth,  in  mo- 
rasses, accumulation  of  rains,  occasion  floods  and  land-slides  ;  while 
exhalations  breed  miasmata.  Normal  Movement,  made  malverse, 
hurts  instead  of  helping.  Evil  usurps  ways  of  good.  Forces,  im- 


INJURESOUL.  163 

pelled  by  Supreme  Laws,  MUST  have  way.  If  Man  ignores  them, 
for  his  uses,  they  become  abuses.  Benefic  Nature  is  made  malefic. 
MAN  suffers,  then,  because  Nature  suffers  through  his  laches.  His 
bad  will,  or  his  lack  of  good  will,  sets  him  in  opposition  to  his  only 
Helper.  LIGHT  dawns  on  him,  through  PRACTICAL  SCIENCE  ;and 
he  seeks  to  repair  mischief  wrought  by  himself.  He  drains  moras- 
ses; opens  roads  through  wilderness  woods;  lets  air  and  sunshine 
into  soil;  straightens  and  cleans  out  river-beds;  brings  his  chemical 
knowledge  to  bear  upon  malaria.  What  are  all  these  operations  of 
human  movement,  !n  modern  years,  but  tacit  confessions  that  human 
generations  have  permitted  evils  to  fasten  on  earth,  in  antagonism 
of  Nature's  laws  ?  I  affirm  that  whirlwinds,  tornados,  sirocco  winds, 
ice-bergs,  frozen  earth-crust,  cold  winds,  chill  rains,  are  all  subsistent, 
under  Forces  of  Nature,  because  human  ignorance  and  wickedness 
left  Nature  to  UNREGULATED  MOVEMENT,  thereby  disturbing  normal 
air-flows  and  heat-flows.  Science,  in  some  measure,  may  reach  and 
regulate  evils  which  afflict  humanity.  Six  thousand  future  years 
of  scientific  labors,  in  accord  with  Nature,  if  granted  to  us,  might 
restore  this  earth  to  conditionings  it  enjoyed  when  garden-soil  was 
turned  under  Adam's  hand.  But  it  is  CHRISTIANITY,  only,  which 
can  bring  about  such  earthly  restoration.  Plough -shares,  and  shares 
of  soil,  must  supplement  sword-blows  and  slave-chains.  Men  must 
"  learn  war  no  more  ; "  and  manly  WILLS,  as  VOTES  of  freemen,  must 
make  human  laws  in  accord  with  laws  of  Nature. 

NOTE  14,  page  23,  line  28. — After  a  dozen  editions  of  his  "  Life 
of  Jesus,"  and  an  elaboration  of  its  "ideas"  into  what  he  assumes 
to  be  an  ideal  history  of  the  origin  of  Christianity,  M.  Renan  has 
ended  where  he  began,  in  the  muddle  of  a  mind  which,  rejecting 
revelation,  and  accepting  science  of  men,  as  comparative  philosophy, 
sinks  back  upon  itself  in  collapse  of  all  basis  but  mental  surmises. 
Renan  is  Infidelity,  masquerading  in  robes  of  Christian  Love. 
His  philosophy  makes  Christ  a  fiction  of  Renan's  fancy  ;  the  Resur- 
rection an  outcome  of  Renanistic  dreams  shared  by  erotic  women 


1 64  INJURE  SOUL. 

and  esoteric  men,  antetypes  of  our  modern  "  spiritualist"  confraterni- 
ties. Mary  Magdalen,  (after  Correggio.)  postures  before  this  German 
Michelet,  as  an  Egeria,  originating  a  "  gospel  according  to  St.  John," 
which  the  world  was  never  to  understand  until  its  "  myth"  should, 
be  interpreted  by  Renan.  If  scholarship,  derived  from  sips  of  Greek 
wine  and  gulps  of  German  bier,  in  a  long  life  of  "  literary  leisure,  " 
may  pass  for  erudition;  or  if  extensive  stirrings  of  shallow  pools,  in 
letters  and  science,  are  accepted  for  soundings  of  intellectual 
deeps;  Renan,  then,  is  a  man  of  learning  and  thought.  He  spills 
ink  lavishly;  no  cuttlefish  more  so;  and  no  "  devil-fish,"  of  Hugo's 
weird  picturing,  could  sprawl  more  softly  over  human  victims— with 
brachipod  flesh  and  blood  concealing  poisoned  blades — if  it  were 
possible  for  Infidelity,  personified,  to  trouble  Christianity  beyond 
some  flows  of  sepia.  As  for  Renan's  influence  on  his  age,  or 
after,  it  is  measurable  by  that  of  his  contemporaries  and  fore-runners 
in  assaults  and  underminings  of  our  "  Rock  of  Ages/'  \Yinds 
and  waters  flow  everywhere,  around  that  impregnable  Rock.  On  all 
sides  it  has  been  attacked,  since  days  of  Pharisees  and  Sadducees. 
Pretentious  men-of-war,  piratic  cutters,  cockle-shell  craft,  of  all 
sorts,  have  been  arrayed  against  it,  during  eighteen  centuries. 
Brilliant  with  fire-damp  display,  of  hostility,  each  in  its  day,  and  its 
way,  they  all  pass  as  phantasmagoria.  They  sink  in  black  waters. 
Salient  names  of  a  few  "  skippers"  on  their  decks,  may,  here  and 
there,  be  tossed  to  light  from  waters  of  ages,  as  fresh  agitations  of 
infidel  "thought"  shall  cast  Hp  wrecks  of  their  "like."  To- 
day we  read  Renan's  name  on  a  cut-water:  answering  to  that  of 
Strauss  on  another  ;  and  a  squadron  may  bear  down,  in  echelon  battle- 
line,  delivering  broadsides  as  they  pass  our  ROCK  ;  and  a  slogan  of 
war  cries  may  sound  from  decks  of  Darwin,  and  Agassiz,  and  Spen- 
cer, and  Ingersoll,  and  . . .  .they  PASS  !  Time's  waters  ingulf  them  ! 
Our  ROCK  is  immovable  ;  our  CROSS  crowns  it, 

NOTE   15,   page  25,   line   20. — Arago's  '•  mind  '*  computed   the 
weight  of  loo  cubic  inches  of  dry  air,    at   31,074   grains;  say   one 


INJURESOUL.  res 

pound  and  three-eighths.  A  German  chemig*,  Weber,  decided  that 
a  man  of  ordinary  bulk  walks  under  air-pressure,  vertical  and  lat- 
eral, of  about  fourteen  tons.  Weber  thought  that  his  thigh-bones 
and  arm-bones  were  kept  in  their  sockets  by  "atmospheric  pressure, " 
and  he  inferred,  from  the  fact  that  travellers  on  high  mountains 
bleed  at  their  noses,  that  our  blood-vessels  are  adjusted  by  air 
pressures. 

NOTE  1 6,  page  29,  line  10. — I  name  this  metrical  essay  "  INJURE- 
SOUL" because  that  name  may  suggest  for  Christian  "thinkers," 
an  arrayal  of  enemies  to  Bible  Truth,  within  churches,  more  danger- 
ous than  foes  without.  No  line  of  these  pages  has  been  penned  in 
reference  alone  to  such  Infidelity  as  INJURESOUL  represents.  His 
familiar  slanders  of  religion  are  but  frothing  waves,  which  foam 
against  and  recede  from  the  "  Rock  of  ages  ;  "  powerless  with  all 
their  force  and  glitter,  under  beacon-light  this  ROCK  upholds.  Per- 
adventure,  indeed,  these  watery  assaults  of  skeptical  "  minds  "  may 
wash  away  sea-weed  and  floating  impurities,  excrescent  and  un- 
sightly. INJURESOUL,  and  his  kind,  make  their  own  "congregation 
of  the  wicked."  Careless  Christian  "  Pastorship"  is  to  be  feared 
more  than  wolves  outside  of  its  flocks.  "  Half-Hours  with  Science," 
and  the  "  right  hand  of  fellowship  "  extended  by  Christian  clergymen 
to  philosophers  who  deride  "Moses  and  the  prophets,"  are  of  worse 
portent  to  Religion,  in  our  age  of  Science,  than  an  army  of  skeptics, 
with  INJURESOUL  as  commander -in-chief. 

NOTE  17,  page  32,  line  4. — "  God  saith!  "  These  words  are  eas- 
ily recognized  in  their  appropriate  place,  as'words  of  truth  or  false- 
hood. By  Divine  ordination,  prophets  and  good  men  were  inspired 
to  utter  them.  Moses  was  empowered  to  write  them,  in  authenti- 
cation of  a  few  "  Mosaic  statements  ; "  including  some  chapters  and 
verses  of  Genesis.  But  the  use  of  those  words  in  connection  with 
Levitical  laws,  and  assumed  "  commands  "  of  God,  ordinating  atroc- 
ities of  war,  spoliations  of  property,  and  licentious  acts  or  usages, 
are  blasphemies  against  Divine  GOODNESS  and  PURITY.  If  "  minds  " 


1 66  2NJURESOUL. 

now  turned  upon  a  ''Revision  of  the  Bible, "could  be  moved  to- 
ward a  judicious  and  seemly  elimination  of  matter  from  Scripture 
which  Christianity  may  well  abscise,  we  might  enumerate  fewt  r 
«' canonical  books"  thereafter;  but  our  comprehension  of  GOD'S 
WORD  would  be  much  better  for  such  work. 

NOTE  18,  page  34,  line  12. — He  styles  himself  a  lecturer;  his 
themes  are  those  of  a  clergyman,  ana  he  seeks  compensation  for  his 
work,  at  public  expense.  Christian  and  Hebrew  preachers  are  sus 
tained  by  church  contribution.  They  have  no  other  means  of  sup- 
port, in  their  quality  of  accepted  teachers ;  INJURESOUL  collects  his 
lawyer's  fees,  and  then  sallies  out  for  raids  on  weak  "  minds,"  at- 
tracted by  his  pretensions,  to  pay  their  money  for  his  preachings. 

NOTE  19,  page  37.  line  10.— Anaxagoras  conceived  of"  Infinite" 
and  all-swaying  MIND,  which  he  named  "  Noos"  and  the  Neo- 
Platonic  idea  of  "  Tvio<Ti<;"  was  an  equivalent.  Modern  "Reason" 
enthroned  upon  Mind"  adds  "  free  thought, "  "free  love,"  andsome 
other  free  things.  Possession  of  a  "fine  mind"  is  no  guaranty  of 
goodness.  And  when  "Mind"  would  brow-beat  society,  and  a 
Christian  professor  arrogates  impunity  for  wrong  doing  ;  and  when 
society,  or  a  church,  condones  the  presumption ;  we  may  look  for 
infidel  "  Nous,"  both  in  and  out  of  churches.  The  question  now 
is,  shall  a  Christian  flock  be  ready  to  follow  its  "pastor  "  in  his 
walk  as  an  "  EVOLUTIONIST,"  denying  the  "Fall  of  Adam  " — deny- 
ing the  necessity  of  Calvary's  Sacrifice— denying  that  basic  tenet  of 
Christianity,  the  "Redemption  "  of  sinners  through  CHRIST?... 
To  this  point,  toward  fellowship  with  INJURESOUL,  "advanced  mind  ' 
is  moving.  Abjuring  that  Faith,  called  "orthodox,"  which  LYMAN 
BEECHER  lived  and  died  in,  his  son  becomes  infidel.  Beyond  So- 
cinian  doctrines — inculcated  by  Cambridge  College  "  divines  " — he 
arrives  at  the  only  "theory"  which  "promises  "  to  save  sinners 
without  repentance  "  Universal  Salvation." 

NOTE  2O,  page  38,  line  IO, — Ancient  idolatries  were  products  of 
"  Mind."  A  few  temple-rites  and  festal  days  were  characterized  by 


INJURE  SOUL.  167 

orgies  of  licentious  minds,  in  mask  of  serving  gods  and  goddesses. 
But  if  it  be  true  that  a  Syrian  temple  of  Venus,  or  a  Paphian  grove, 
concealed  wicked  practices,  and  an  observance  of  Lupercalian  or 
Bacchanalian  anniversaries  was  often  accompanied  by  excesses,  it  is 
no  less  a  fact  of  history  that  civil  and  religious  laws  against  im- 
moralities were  enforced  by  kings  and  priesthoods  throughout 
Egypt.  Greece,  Assyria  and  the  Roman  Empire.  Immoral  temple 
usages  were  denounced  by  sages,  and  avoided  with  horror  by  the 
people.  Popular  and  personal  virtues  were  commended,  inculcated, 
and  rewarded  by  public  applause.  Hospitality  was  so  valued  that 
a  deadly  enemy,  if  he  could  reach  the  fireside  of  his  foe,  might  in- 
voke the  protection  of  dii penates  or  "  household-gods."  Slaves, 
persecuted  debtors,  even  condemned  malefactors,  escaping  into  tem- 
ple precincts,  were  secure  from  arrest.  A  war-prisoner,  devoted  to 
sacrifice,  in  avengement  of  Achilles,  is  advised  to  take  refuge  in  a 
temple.  "Goto  the  altars!"  Polyxena  is  told,  (in  Euripides,} 
"  ihe  wild  beast  is  secured  by  rocks,  and  slaves  by  the  altars  of  the 
gods."  Piety  was  encouraged,  prayers  prescribed  for  morning  and 
evening,  for  each  meal,  for  every  journey,  every  worthy  undertak- 
ing. Victorious  Hector  would  not  approach  an  altar  until  he  pur- 
ified himself.  "  Tis  impious,"  he  says,  "  with  blood  on  me.  to  pay 
my  vows  !  "  Plato  writes  "  At  the  rising  of  the  sun  and  of  the 
moon,  everywhere,  behold  both  Greeks  and  Barbarians,  those  in 
prosperity  as  well  as  those  in  poverty  and  affliction,  prostrating 
themselves,  and  supplicating."  Plutarch  speaks  of  the  Spartans, 
truculent  as  they  were,  petitioning  Jove  that  they  might  suffer  in- 
juries with  equanimity.  Hearts,  indeed,  not  "minds" are  impress- 
ed with  "religion"  in  every  cultus.  The  trouble  was,  that  tempor- 
al rulers — Bobs  and  Toms — defied  religious  inculcations,  and 
demoralized  mankind  by  ' '  free  thoughts "  and  practices,  as 
warriors,  slave-masters,  gold-getters,  and  oppressors  of  their  fel- 
low-men. Roman  Empire  dominated  the  world  two  thousand 
years  ago.  Humanity  groaned  under  its  malefactions.  Na- 
tions were  debased  by  centuries  of  king-craft,  tempting  priestly 


1 68  INJURESOUL. 

teachers  to  condone  wickedness,  in  defiance  of  priestly  laws.  Man. 
kind,  in  slavery,  lifted  its  eyes  to  Gospel  Light,  as  a  revelation  of 
"Truth  which  maketh  free."  Where  were  INJURESOULS  in  the 
days  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  ?  They  were  incarnate  as  Herod, 
as  Jewish  '  Scribes  and  Pharisees,"  as  Greek  sages,  peering  from 
Athenian  "porticos,"  to  sneer  at  Paul  on  Mars'  Hill.  They  were 
captains  and  colonels  of  Tyranny's  world-wide  banditti.  They  were 
overseers  and  auctioneers,  who  scourged  and  sold  bodies  and  souls 
of  men  and  women,  and  trained  gladiators  for  massacre,  and  ground 
taxes  out  of  the  poor.  Does  INJURESOUL  tell  us  his  "  free  thoughts  " 
would  have  arrayed  him  against  oppressors  of  his  fellow  men  in 

days  of  Christ  ?     Where,  then,  would  his  place  have   been? At 

the  side  of  Paul  and  Peter  ! — with  Christ,  the  denouncer  of  wrong- 
doing.   

NOTE  21,  page  44,  line  18.  — "Prove  all  things  :  hold  fast  to  that 
which  is  good  !  "  wrote  Paul  \  and  it  is  neither  forbidden  for  Chris- 
tian priest,  nor  for  philosopher  or  "  reformer,"  to  scrutinize  each  and 
every  "  line  and  precept  "of  Scripture,  that  its  "good"  maybe 
held  fast,  when  proven.  I  apprehend,  if  Paul's  injunction  were 
heeded  by  INJURESOUL  and  his  philosophic  co-respondents,  clergy 
and  laity,  we  might  very  soon  behold  Sctenlia  ex  curia,  instead  of 
seeing  her,  as  at  present,  assuming  triple  functions,  as  judge,  jury, 
and  witness,  in  an  exparte  trial  of  Religious  Faith.  But  against 
scientific  assumptions,  Christianity  need  never  hesitate  to  set  her 
battle.  She  has  arms  and  munitions  of  war  at  hand  for  a  "short, 
sharp,  and  decisive"  contest,  whenever  her  militant  churchmen 
shall  address  themselves  to  the  fray  in  earnest.  It  is  not  "  on  the  de- 
fensive "  she  should  act,  as  heretofore.  Her  war  must  be  carried 
into  the  enemy's  camps,  over  his  walls  of  air,  his  chariots  of  rolling 
stars,  his  :<  covered  ways  "  of  bone-caves,  and  his  "  last  ditch  "  in 
a  marl-pit.  He  may  die  hard,  but  his  death,  as  a  DELUSION,  will 
carry  down  many  delusions  in  alliance  with  him — from  Atheism  to 
Nihilism— and  AGNOSTICISM  :  latest  adumbration  of  Sybarite  philos- 
ophy ;  its  loins  loosened  by  the  impingement  of  a  rose  leaf. 


INJURE  SOUL.  169 

NOTE  22,  page  44,  line  26.— That  a  Greek  philosopher— with  no 
chemical  appliances  at  command —should  hav<:  immortalized  his 
name  by  some  scraps  of  writings  which  come  down  to  us,  affirming 
his  reference  to  AIR,  as  the  original  substance  of  all  things  ; 
and  that  no  libraries  of  philosophic  books  have  been  written  for  or 
against  this  assumption  of  ANAXIMENES,  are  suggestions  of  in- 
terest, in  view  of  chemical  facts  now  patent  to  the  world,  which 
prffve  beyond  question,  the  abiding  truth  of  this  Greek  philosopher's 
few  words.  And  that  Anaxagoras,  who  really  originated  the 
"  Atomic  theory  "  and  lived  in  another  city  of  Greece  about  the  same 
period,  (five  centuries  B.  C.)  in  which  Anaximenes  expressed  his 
views— should  have  referred  the  origin  of  minerals,  and  all  other 
known  forms  of  matter,  to  an  adjustment  of  "  atoms  "  under  a  Su- 
preme and  Eternal  Intelligence,  is  another  most  remarkable  historic 
fact,  unaccountably  slurred  by  philosophers  of  all  ages,  down  to  our 
day  of  philosophic  renaissance.  But  the  "  ideas  "  of  those  Greek 
sages,  in  connection  with  other  "ideas,"  put  forth  by  Greek  philos- 
ophers, might,  at  this  day— I  am  free  to  say— be  collated  into  an 
arrayal  of  sound  and  truthful  conceptions,  which  should  relegate 
modern  astronomy  and  geology,  as  sciences,  to  lumber  rooms  of  their 
orreries,  planiscopes,  monstrous  skeletons,  and  fossils  generally. 

NOTE  23,  page  50,  line  10.—  Polytheism,  as  a  tuttus,  according  to 
some  writers,  originated  in  popular  ignorance  and  fear.  Imagina- 
tions of  herdsmen,  fishers,  and  hunters  peopled  wilderness  woods, 
secluded  mountains,  and  unknown  waters,  with  shapes  of  divers  des- 
criptions, answering  to  their  wondering  apprehensions.  This  is  a 
conjecture  without  basis,  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  a  man,  wo- 
man, or  child  could  be  impressed  with  imaginations  of  invisible  and 
unreal  subsistences.  Is  it  possible  to  conceive  of  a  shape  unknmvn  ? 
Some  fisher  might  espy  a  shark  or  a  "  devil  fish  "  such  as  Victor 
Hugo  describes.  But,  as  a  fisherman,  he  would  have  fought  or  fled 
from  it  as  a  "  strange  fish  '* — no  more.  If  a  hunter  were  pursued  by 
a  gorilla,  he  might  frighten  his  mates  by  talk  of  a  strange  beast, 
or  an  over-grown  ape.  But  a  single  successful  encounter  with 


170  INJURE  SOUL. 

the  object,  must  have  settled  "  doubts  "  about  it.  No  !  there  were 
no  originators  of  "gods"  but  crafty  fiddlers— free-thinkers.  An 
indolent  fellow,  ambitious  of  power,  or  desirous  to  subsist  at  other 
people's  expense,  first  innovated  upon  the"  patriarchal  system," 
under  which  every  husband  and  father  was  "  priest,"  at  his  "  fami- 
ly altar."  Some  Bob,  with  a  lazy  body  and  a  cunning  "  mind," 
dropped  his  "  advanced  thoughts  "  among  other  idlers,  and  they 
jointly  "imagined  a  vain  thing  "in  a  mysterious  "  old  man,"  or 
"  young  woman/'  from  the  sky  or  the  mountains,  bringing  a  "revel- 
ation "  to  Bob  or  Tom.  The  result  was  a  "  god  "  set  up  ;  and 
when  Bob's  "idea  "  assured  "  fat  offerings  "  for  his  altar,  Tom  set 
op  another  "god"  and  a  new  shrine  ;  and  "  ideas"  multiplied  in 
the  way  of  "  free  thoughts."  We  may  trace  this  process  in  impos- 
tures of  all  ages,  to  our  own  day  of  "  Mormonism."  Polytheism  was 
an  invasion  of  "  new  ideas "  on  the  simple  worship  of  DEITY, 
symbolized  by  FIRE.  But  among  every  primitive  people  in  Africa, 
Asia,  and  parts  of  the  American  continent,  fire  is  held  sr.cred 
still.  Never  has  any  faith,  or  any  cult,  been  mentioned  in  history 
without  allusions  to  the  use  of  FIRE,  in  its  religious  observances. 
FLAME  is  an  emblem  of  aspiration. 

NOTE  24,  page  57,  line  16. — What  abstruse  significance  may  be 
hidden  under  this  new  description  of  Atheism,  as  "Christian  Evol- 
ution," concerns  us  little.  Mr.  Beecher  has  "  evoluted  "  gradually, 
in  his  "advanced  thought,"  to  some  "  devek  pment,"  satisfactoiy 
to  his  Reason.  But  it  is  not  mere  coinaf  e  of  verbalism  with  which 
Christians  have  to  do  ;  it  is  the  faet  of  "  Darwinian  doctrine,"  ad- 
mitted for  discussion  by  Christian  preachers  and  professors  ;  a  doc- 
trine void  of  natural  or  religious  grounds.  Minds  entertaining  this 
delusion  were  prepared  for  its  reception  by  accepted  "theories  " 
of  geologist  and  paleontologist,  regarding  rock-formations  and  fossil 
fragments  of  monstrous  animals.  Denying  the  Light  which  Moses 
left  in  chapters  of  GENESIS,  our  modem  scientist  invents  an  un- 
necessary chain  of  falsities  regarding  physical  Nature.  Geologic 
data  are  speculative  data.  Every  conditioning  of  earth,  in  stratifi- 


INfURESOUL.  171 

cation,  and  all  supposititious  connections  of  terrene  convulsions  with 
it,  are  to  be  naturally  accounted  lor,  in  accordance  with  Mosaic  cos- 
mogony and  la«s  of  Nature.  It  is  an  assumption  of  '  MIND,"  that 
incrustations,  natural  deposits,  and  abnormal  congestions  of  terrene 
matter,  are  referable  only  to  lapses  of  time,  in  "eras  "and  "epocha" 
covering  millions  of  years.  Puerile  guess-work,  in  "astronomy," 
involves  distances  of  • '  space  "  covering  some  "  ninety-odd  "  mil- 
lions of  miles  of  light  rays  from  sun  to  earth,  and  stellar  distances 
proportionally,  to  assumed  localities  o(  star-shine.  But,  as  yet  no 
monstrous  "specimens  "  of  atrophied  or  aborted  ''planets"  are 
speculated  upon  ;  so  that  "geology"  is  in  advance  of  astronomy, 
as  regards  '-•  fossilism,"  We  yet  lack  an  astronomic,  DARWIN',  to 
'  evolute  "  Mercuries  and  Saturns,  by  "development,"  from  "  me- 
teors.'  vagrant  comets,  and  other  apparitions  of  "firedamp." 

NoTK  25.  page  61,  line  6. — I  allude  to  that  hypercritical  condem- 
nation of  '  MATERIALISM  "  which  superficial  Christian  thinkers  mis- 
take for  "  spiritual  "  religion.  "  GOD  is  a  SPIRIT  !  "  this  is  my  faith, 
as  it  was  faith'  for  David.  "  God  is  one  God  !  "  I  aver,  with  a  "He- 
brew of  the  Hebrews  !  "  But  is  Jew  or  Christian  mindful  of  his  way, 
when  he  endorses  not  only  "  Platonism  "  but  "  Neo-Platonism  ?"— 
not  only  Heathen  cosmogonies,  but  those  grotesque  malversations  of 
Plato's  views  which  constituted  "  Gnosticism  ?  "  Pagan  philoso- 
phies, now  extantin  Asiatic  religions,  are  based,  like  pure  Platonism, 
and  its  Gnostic  followings,  on  an  assumption  that  DEITY  is  existent 
as  a  "  SPIRIT"  whose  omnific  will  wrought  upon  MATTER  OUTSIDE  OF 
HIMSELF  !  Can  anything  more  monstrous  be  imagined  ?— that  Supreme 
DEITY,  omnipotent  and  omniscient, could  subsist  as  a  CREATIVE  POWER 
beyond  and  above  His  Material  Creation  ?  Is  it  compatible  with  rev. 
erential  worship  of  GOD  to  suppose  it  possible  for  any  SUBSTANCE, 
in  an  ORIGINAL  conditioning,  to  be  an'agonistic  to  HIM  ?  Is  it  a 
concept  to  be  entertained  by  any  Christian  or  Jew,  that  a  PURE  GOD, 
an  Immaculate  Spirit,  would  ORDAIN  the  subsistence  or  continuance, 
of  impurity  outside  of  HIMSELF,  and  in  antagonism  to  His  Will  ?  This 
is  Platonism  ?  This  is  Zoroastic  doctrine.  This  is  Neo-Platonism  or 


172  INJURESOUL. 

Gnostic  speculation.  This  is  "Darwinism."  I  denounce  it  all  as 
misapprehension  of  GOD,  the  PERFECTION  of  goodness,  the  Sum  of  all 
Power,  who  created  Physical  Nature  and  Human  Nature  as  Perfect 
Works. 

NOTE  25,  (No  2)  page  61,  line  6.— We  name  our  Christian  GOD 
the  INFINITE  and  ETERNAL  GOD,  who  inhabits  "INFINITY."  Yet  an 
absurd  idea  is  harbored,  that  MATTER,  alien  to  God,  may  subsist  OUT 
SIDE  of  '•  Infinity  !"— that  our  Creator  wrought  upon  substance  BE- 
YOND  HIMSELF  ;  although  His  INFINITY  must  comprise  all  elements 
of  creation.  I  denounce  the  assumption  that  God  could  ORIGINATE 
EVIL  such  as  is  known  to  be  subsistent  in  Nature }  because  I  am  very 
clear  in  my  faith  that  HE  who  created  NATURE  must  have  created  it 
out  of  elements  composing  His  own  subsistence,  This  is  positive  ; 
or  else  we  admit  the  MATERIALISM  of  PLATO,  of  Zoroaster,  of  Simon 
Magus,  of  Basilides,  and  of  the  Nicolaitans  denounced  by  St.  Paul. 
Either  the  HOLY  SPIRIT  of  GOD  must  have  constituted  NATURE  with 
His  own  constituents,  or  He  must  have  wrought  upon  co  existent 
MATTER  antagonistic  to  His  own  Immaculate  Nature  ;  EVIL  co-eternal 
with  Himself,  and  POTENTIAL  to  withstand  and  negate  His  Omnific 
Power.  Vainly  do  Christian  THINKERS  endeavor  to  account  for 
malversations  and  malefic  influences  of  matter,  by  teaching  that  it  is 
EVIL  subsistent  by  PERMISSION  of  God ;  that  it  is  allowed  to  subsist, 
in  order  that  GOOD  SOULS  may  "suffer  trials"  through  perversions  of 
NATURE.  The  question  comes  up  :  What  CAUSED  these  perver- 
sions of  NATURE  ?  What  originated  ice  and  snow  in  arctic  seas  ? 
What  occasioned  African  deserts  ?  Why  should  MALARIA  smite  all 
shores  ?  Why  shall  physical  convulsions  devastate  Nature,  and  de- 
stroy humanity,  by  floods,  fires,  volcanic  eruptions,  earth-quakes, 
tornadoes,  whirlwinds?  My  argument  demonstrates  that  our  CHRIS- 
TIAN GOD,  who  is  PERFECTLY  GOOD,  and  IMMACULATELY  PURE, 
cannot  possibly  ordain,  or  even  permit,  a  shadow  of  wrong  or  im- 
purity. I  desire  to  show  that  His  NATURE  is  swayed  by  His  OWN 
LAWS,  in  accord  with  their  sway  of  physical  and  human  Nature. 
I  have  chosen  the  medium  of  a  metrical  TEXT,  to  which  I  append  a  few 


IN  JURE  SOUL.  173 

NOTES  in  vindication  of  my  faith  in  CHRISTIANITY,  as  the  Gospel  of  an 
Infinitely  Good,  Wise,  Just,  and  Pure  GOD  ;  the  SUPREME  GOD  of 
all  hearts  impressed  by  unperverted  NATURE. 

NOTE  26,  page  63,  line  20. — With  quick  perceptions,  and  a  reflec- 
tive turn,  Mr.  Thomas  A.  Edison  utilizes  heat-forces  which  his  prede- 
cessors, the  gas  purveyors,  have  systematically  thrown  away.  His 
knowledge  of  that  universal  factor  of  light  and  life,  ELECTRICITY^ 
extends  simply  to  results  of  his  experimental  studies.  This  remark, 
implies  no  disparagement  of  a  persistent  seeker,  who  successfully 
pursues  a  quest  foi  "more  light."  But  his  technicalities  of  trade  ; 
his  ''  ohm,"  and  "  volt"  and  "  ampere,"  remind  one  of  our  friend  the 
"  Spiritualist,"  with  his  "  odic  ''  force,  and  of  an  average  Scientist, 
carrying  conceits  of  '  static"  power,  in  portable  shape,  like  Keely's 
"  Motor."  There  is  no  such  an  existence  in  Nature  as  "  stored  up 
force  !  "  no  such  thing  as  "  bottled-up  lightning  !  " 

NOTE  27,  page  68,  line  6.— When  the  wife  of  "  free-thinker  " 
Shelley,a  daughter  of  "  free-thinking"  parents,("  like  "  and  "  like"; 
imagined  her  monster  "  Frankenstein, "she  simply  paraphrased  such 
"Science"  as  Mankind  learns;  whereby  to  accept  monstrosities 
of  doctrines  ,  which  return  upon  and  plague  their  inventors. 
"  P^rsnkenstein  "  was  a  mannikin  made  by  "  Mind."  It  possessed 
no  SOUL!  It  was  not  endowed  with  even  a  bestial  "nafurf."  Un- 
natural and  abominable— like  "  Darwinism" — it  warred  against  its 
wretched  constructor—"  an  advanced  mind." 

NOTE  28,  page  71,  line  18. — No  "  demonstrations  of  anatomy" 
were  known  in  ages  of  old,  when  human  dust  was  held  in  respect  by 
inheritors  of  it.  Skins  of  dead  animals  were  avoided  as  unclean ; 
deceased  relatives  were  packed  and  embalmed  in  costly  mausolea  ; 
while  professional  embalmers  were  an  inferior  caste.  Medical  Sci- 
ence has  "  struggled  up  "  (so  say  our  surgeons)  to  its  present  status 
over  many  foolish  prejudices.  This  is  true.  There  is  more 
surety  for  the  surgeon,  with  probe,  knife,  or  saw,  we  are  told.  Yet 
this  surety  failed  to  direct  the  probes  of  consulting  ''  experts,  "  when 
President  Garfield  died  under  scientific  treatment,  in  accordance 


j74  LVJURE SOUL. 

with  anatomic  knowledge.  Curiosity  is  gratified  by  medical  lecture?, 
"  illuminated  "  with  colored  lights  upon  bones,  nerves,  muscles,  and 
viscera.  .But  it  is  only  DEATH  we  contemplate  in  a  dissected  "  sub- 
ject." No  life-light  guides  us  to  surgical  or  medical  procedures. 
We  grope  in  darkness  of  tombs,  among  skeletons.  LIGHT  shines  for 
us  elsewhere — in  outer  AIR  ! 

NOTE  29,  page  73,  line  6. — In  theories  put  forth  by  ethnologist 
and  philologist,  to  account  for  what  the  BIBLE  plainly  accounts  for, 
in  respect  to  genesis  of  life  and  language,  it  is  noticeable  that  no 
"expert  "has  considered  vowel  sounds,  as  they  are  emitted  by 
human  breath,  without  words,  from  cradle  to  grave.  From  the 
"  me-e-m-e -e"  of  a  new-born  babe,  and  its  first  modulation  of  sound, 
in  that  aspirate  " ab"  followed  by  the  labial,  "  6,"  through  all  var- 
iations of  the  vocal  gamut,  to  our  last  suspiration  of  breath,  in  a  dying 
sigh,  (as  of  satisfaction  !)  we  may  trace  the  "origin  of  words"  to 
express  every  phase  of  emotional  feeling.  But  emotions  are  first  to 
be  accounted  for.  If  each  organism  is  its  own  motor,  then  every 
creature  is  a  god — man,  beast,  bird,  and  insect.  If  on  the  other  hand, 
emotion  is  attributable  to  a  Power  outside  of  the  creature,  then  thaf 
Power  could  have  impressed  an  original  language,  as  well  as  it 
could  stir  emotions  toward  language. 

NOTE  30,  page  78,  line  6. — "  Who  maketh  his  angels  spirits;  his 
ministers  a  flaming  fire."  (Ps.  civ.  4.) 

NOTE  31,  page  81,  line  14. — Perhaps,  the  poet  Praed  permitted 
his  riddle  of  "Sir  Hilary's  Prayer"  to  remain  a  "dark  saying,"  in 
order  that  good  guessers  might  learn  its  moral  for  themselves.  "  God 
Help!"— as  a  universal  prayer,  reduced  to  practice,— might  make 
this  world  a  "  Happy  Valley  "  instead  of  a  "  Vale  of  Tears  ;"  and 
3ift  up  humanity  toward  "  Islands  of  the  Blest "  not  shadowy  like 
those  which  St.  Brandon  voyaged  to  find,  nor  such  simulacra  of 
"heavenly  bodies''  ns  our  philosophers  imagine  through  ground- 
glass. 

NOTE  32,  pnge  82,  line  18. — Why  philosophers,  whose  research 
has  not  yet  penetrated  the  Nature  of  LIGHT — and  who  are  content  to 


INJURE  SOUL.  175 

accept  it  as  a  "vibration  "  of  some  unknown  fluid — should  imagine 
mere  apparitions  of  moving  lights  in  air  to  be  other  than  attendant 
phenomena  of  our  earthly  skies,  is  a  question  to  be  answered  by 
INJURESOUL'S  "REASON,"  when  she  mounts  her  throne  of  the 
"World's  Mind."  Common  Sense  and  human  eye-sight  see  "lights 
in  heaven  "  moving  as  a  torch-light  procession  moves,  and  appears, 
on  a  misty  night.  If  we  survey  such  a  march,  through  an  opera- 
glass,  we  discern  lanterns  framing  lights,  and  recognize  varied  colors 
and  inscriptions  on  lanterns.  Telescopic  sight  shows  phenomena  of 
"  diffraction,"  such  as  Grimaldi  noted  more  than  two  centuries  ago. 
Newton  based  his  "theory  of  light  "  upon  "diffraction  ;"  which  is 
no  less  an  accompaniment  of  light  in  rain-bows  and  of  soap-bubbles 
in  sunshine,  than  it  is  known  as  an  apparition  of  heat  on  wheels 
in  rapid  motion  ;  HEAT  manifest  as  LIGHT.  But  if  the  word  "diffrac- 
tion "  expresses  what  Grimaldi  noted,  it  conveys,  really,  no  other 
idea  than  the  words  "  radiation  "  and  "  deflection"  do,  in  misappre- 
hension of  assumed  lines  of  light,  "  eccentric  "  from  any  point.  But 
my  "point  of  fact  "  is,  that  there  is  no  such  antagonism  to  NATURE'S 
LAWS,  as  an  eccentric  or  radiating  air- flow,  unless  it  be  controlled  by 
man's  will,  subjecting  Nature's  force,  or  by  Nature  antagonizing  her 
own  Laws,  because  of  man's  will,  subverting  her  normal  order. 

NOTE  33,  page  83,  line  6. — When  Dean  Swift  fancied  his  island 
of  philosophers,  upheld  in  air  by  its  own  ''attraction  "  (as  a  circus 
clown  philosophizes  on  his  ability  to  lift  himself  up  by  the  straps  of 
his  boots)  he  posited  Science,  as  she  sustains  herself  in  sidereal  im- 
aginations. 

NOTE  34,  page  83,  line  22.— Our  "  gravity"  is  amused  when  we 
read  of  such  "  superstitions,'1  in  mediaeval  centuries,  as  a  belief  by 
babes,  and  "children  of  a  larger  growth,"  that  the  sun,  on  Easter 
morning,  arose  in  a  joyous  dance,  reminding  "Christian  people  "  of 
an  "Arisen  Saviour."  But  we  are  instructed,  (in  all  "  gravity  ")  by 
Newtonian  Christians,  that  not  only  the  sun,  but  all  stars,  are  forever 
figuring  in  a  grand  contra  danse,  with  its  "  attractions  "  and  "  repul- 
sions" in  obedience  to  eccentric  and  concentric  directions  of  posturers 


1 76  INJURESOUL. 

who  are  all  "  gravity,"  as  they  cry  out  to  suns,  moons,  and  stars,— 
"Balancez  !  "  "Jos  a-dos!  "  and  "  chassez  tous  /"....  Yet  philoso- 
phers laugh  at  babies ! 

NOTE  35,  page  86,  line  20. — If  all  "  heavenly  bodies  "  rotate  on 
their  centres  of  gravity,  what  is  it  which  holds  a  comet's  "  tail  "  to 
its  head  without  whisking  it  about,  to  smash  off  aerolites  from  moons 
and  stars  ?  Science  guesses  that  comets  come  into  contact  with 
planets  occasionally,  and  shave  off  "  shooting  stars,"  like  chips  under 
a  jack-plane.  But  there  is  no  reliable  "  law  of  eccentricity,"  as  yet 
— except  astronomy  itself. 

NOTE  36,  page  87,  lineio. — "  Centres  of  force  "  are  not  more 
evident  in  the  cores  of  whirlwinds  and  tornados  than  in  every  gust  of 
wind  and  whirl  of  wave.  Centres  of  combustion  are  posited  in  every 
raging  fire.  Can  Newton's  "law  of  gravitation"  towards  centres, 
account  for  whirls  of  air,  and  spirals  of  flames  ?  Is  there  any 
"  theory  "  of  astronomers  which  explains  the  phenomena  of  ocean 
currents  ?  It  is  certain  that  "  vortices  "  must  be  centres  of  power, 
exerted  on  peripheries,  and  it  is  evident  that  they  exist  in  every  ro- 
tating substance.  Your  pyrotechnist  ordinates  the  gyrations  of  his 
"  Catherine's  wheels  "  by  supplying  fire  at  their  centres,  so  that 
heat-force  may  assure  movement  while  it  is  exerted.  Vortices  are 
fulcra  of  force. 

NOTE  37,  page  88,  line  8.—"  Attraction"  of  matter,  or  "Re- 
pulsion" of  it,  through  operations  of  sidereal  laws,  whereof  there  is 
no  counterpart  in  any  law  of  mundane  subsistence,  is  an  imagination 
with  which  the  idea  of  gravitation  of  matter,  toward  centres  of  globes 
is  irreconcilable.  For  if  any  force  in  Nature  draws  centripetally,  ard 
yet  it  were  a  fact,  as  astronomers  teach,  that  the  tendency  of  mntttr 
is  to  fly  from  centres, whenever  they  revolve,  how  is  it  a  possibility 
that  exhalations  rise  in  the  heat  of  sunshine,  to  collect  in  clouds,  and 
then  fall  in  rain-drops?  how  can  balloons  filled  with  a  light  gas, 
rise  against  pressures  of  air  and  the  attraction  of  gravity  combined  ? 
how  are  jerolites  flung  off  from  "stars"  to  eirth,  (as  asserted 
by  other  gnessers)  or  by  volcnnic  force,  which  sends  them  whirling 


INJURESOUL.  177 

about  with  the  earth,  in  defiance  of  Newtonian  "  attraction  "  or 
his  laws  "of  matter  ?"  Winds  are  attributed  by  Science  to  air-flows 
drawn  upon  heated  areas.  Here  Science  lays  hold  of  Eternal  Law '. 
that  air-currents  (which  are  &vz/-currents)  must  flow  to  super-heat- 
ed points  of  air.  Apply  this  truth  to  air-currents  (as  //^/-currents) 
compelled  to  flow  upon  centres  of  incandescent  air ;  and  you  ac- 
count for  every  heavenly  apparition  of  LIGHT,  as  a  concentric  body 
of  illuminated  air;  a  "minister"  of  Divine  ordination — "  a  flame  of 
fire." 

Note  38,  page  88,  line  14.— Commentators  on  the  Book  of  Job 
have  agreed  to  consider  BEHEMOTH  as  a  hippopotamus,  and  LEVIA- 
THAN as  a  crocodile.  FRY,  with  perceptions  more  acute,  regarded 
the  description  of  behemoth  and  leviathan,  as  "  concerning  one  and 
the  same  animal."  His  mind,  however,  was  not  above  the  unworthy 
conception  that  OMNIPOTENCE  could  indulge  in  a  disquisition  on 
some  monstrous  beast,  as  an  impersonation  of  power  !  He  failed  to 
realize  what  the  context  ought  to  impress,  as  descriptive  language : 
i.e. — the  immeasurable  FORCES  of  AIR  !  Job  is  addressed  by  His 
Maker,  "  out  of  the  whirlwind  !  "  He  is  manifestly  instructed  by 
VISIBLE  POWER  ;  such  power  as  phenomena  of  AIR,  in  terrific  MOVE- 
MENT, might  naturally  impress  him  with.  Dr.  FRY  is  correct  in  his 
idea  that  BEHEMOTH  and  LEVIATHAN  are  identical  images  ;  but  BEHE- 
MOTH is  AIR  in  extraordinary  MOVEMENT;  in  Movement  which  no 
image  could  so  well  impress  upon  Job's  mind,  as  that  POWER  MANI- 
FEST which  a  "  whirlwind  "  imbodies  ;  Movement,  embracing  Force 
and  Velocity.  The  description  answers  very  closely  to  the  action  of 
AIR,  stirred  from  stagnation  in  fens  and  low- lying  meadows,  to  arise 
for  destructive  march,  impelled  by  concentrated  heats  in  vortices  of 
whirling  winds.  And  as  BEHEMOTH  is  typicial  of  AIR  in  power  of 
MOVEMENT  ;  dynamic  Force ;  so  is  LEVIATHAN  a  symbol  of  AIR  in 
unnatural  inertia ;  as  imbodied  by  frozen  water,  constituting  an  ice- 
berg, or  glacier  ;  with  its  arctic  accompaniments  of  electric  fires  ;  its 
tenacious  and  impenetrable  scales  :  its  locale,  in  "  the  deep."  An 
imaginative  description  it  is  not ;  but  a  literal  one !  As  Dr.  FRY  says 


•173  INJURE  SOUL. 

of  his  supposititious  beast,  tliat  Leviathan  and  Behemoth  are  "one 
and  the  same,"  so  I  affirm  of  those  images,  presented  with  such 
graphic  recital ;  that  the  description  of  Behemoth  is  that  of  AIR  in 
MOVEMENT,  as  a  "whirlwind,  "  and  the  description  of  Leviathan  is 
that  of  AIR,  in  ALL  its  capacities  of  resistant  and  irresistible  power  ; 
whether  as  an  ice-berg,  it  defies  hostile  approach,  or  as  a  tempest- 
uous wind  in  movement,  when  it  "maketh  the  deep  to  boil  like  a 
pot "  or  as  it  thunders  and  lightens  in  storms,  and  "out  of  its  neesings 
light  doth  shine."  But  enough;  I  urge  no  argument  beyond  "in- 
ternal evidence  "  of  language. 

NOTE  39,  page  88,  line  24. — "  The  most  audacious  robbers  and  ag- 
gressors, and  impious  creatures,  are  often  prosperous. .  ..The  Lord 
orders  these  things  as  He  pleases."  This  is  the  explanation  of  EVII .- 
DOING  by  two  Christian  doctors,  Henry  and  Scott ;  our  God  orders 
its  increase  and  impunity,  by  making  its  perpetrators  prosperous  !.. 
What  an  estimate  of  Divine  Goodness  !  to  suppose  that  Providence 
promotes  what  is  abhorrent  to  every  good  mind !  David's  poem  of 
JOB  voices  human  reasoning  in  all  its  enunciations  placed  on  human 
lips.  It  is  only  through  words  attributed  to  the  LORD,  that  WISDOM 
appears  to  admonish  REASON.  "Job"  is  an  inspired  poem.  But 
its  inspiration  is  limited  to  language  ascribed  to  DEITY.  Its  plot  is 
David's.  Its  characters  and  speeches  of  Job  and  his  friends  are 
David's.  But  the  interpellation  of  DEITY  and  His  utterances  advise 
us  of  inspiration.  God  speaks  by  His  own  Wisdom.  Men  talk  in 
the  ways  of  their  Reason.  Never  has  an  arrayal  of  argument  by  men's 
minds  been  so  appositely  presented  as  in  these  discourses  of  four 
wise  men  ;  their  REASON  is  sometimes  keen  and  bright,  mingling 
heavenly  light  with  its  fire-damp.  But  when  GOD  speaks  out  of  His 
Nature— out  of  BEHEMOTH — that  emblem  of  Power  "  the  Whirl- 
wind " — it  is  WISDOM,  confounding  false  reasoning.  It  is  in  clear 
contrast  with  human  thought,  because  it  is  unmixed  LIGHT.  In  this 
respect  all  Scripture  may  be  taken,  as  a  commixture  of  man's  writ- 
ings, uninspired  ;  with  Divine  Light  shining,  here  and  there,  as  it 
was  impressed  on  human  minds,  by  occasional  inspiration.  If  we 


INJURE  SOUL.  179 

view  the  Bible  as  a  compilation  of  committees,  in  Councils  after  hot 
discussions,  and  votes  taken  on  this  or  that  book  or  passage,  we 
view  it  as  Wisdom  admonishes.  And  if  we  were  to  subject  every 
Scripture  enunciation  or  inference  to  such  "  canons  of  criticism  "  as 
are  given  to  us  by  words  accredited  to  Jesus  Christ  and  to  the  Apos- 
tle John,  declaring  "Love"  as  the  essence  of  Christianity,  we 
should  reduce  "  Canonical  Scripture"  to  "  God's  Word." 

NOTE  40,  page  91,  line  12. — Prof.  Helmholtz,  of  Heidelberg  Uni- 
versity, has  written  upon  two  phenomena  of  AIR  which  impress  him 
to  the  verge  almost  of  discoveries  denied  to  Des  Cartes,  because 
that  THINKER  could  not  discard  other  men's  thoughts  long  enough 
to  substitute  his  own  therefor.  Helmholtz  discourses  on  vortices 
in  fluids,  and  of  vibratory  motion  in  open  pipes.  He  avoids  the 
error  which  misled  Dr.  Harvey,  when  he  fancied  the  vibration  of 
blood  in  veins  to  be  ebb  and  flow  of  blood.  If  such  inquiring  minds 
were  to  proceed  far  enough  in  trains  of  thought,  to  reach  a  natural 
"junction,"  and  discover  that  there  is  but  one  road-way  for  all 
phenomena,  and  no  "switch-off"  from  it;  they  might  pause  at 
"  LIGHT,  HEAT,  AIR,  "  —  one  substance,  in  flow  universally, — 
as  their  "open  gateway"  to  "  secrets  of  Nature."  Realizing  this/act 
that  a  block  of  ice  is  concrete  light,  as  it  is  concrete  air ;  and  that  as 
concrete  light  it  is  also  concrete  heat — they  may  reach  a  conclusion, 
and  profit  by  it.  Let  them  inspect  the  contents  of  a  condensing 
cylinder,  which  has  abated  the  heat  of  a  room,  from  84°(Fahrenheit,) 
to  20°  below  zero,  and  inquire  of  their  reason  what  becomes  of  the 
eliminated  caloric  ?  Then  they  may  understand  a  conditioning  of 
arctic  airs  concreted  to  icebergs,  when  arctic  electric  fires  are  cor- 
uscating in  flowing  air  above ;  and  they  must  thereafter  compre- 
hend, sooner  or  later,  those  chemistries  of  Nature  which  are  now 
only  hinted  at  by  our  "  optical  illusions  "  and  "chemical  refriger- 
ations," 

NOTE  41,  page  92,  line  22.—"  Diffraction  "  is  noted  by  Grimaldi, 
as  the  result  of  volatility  in  currents  of  light,  which  causes  their 
spires  to  "  interfere  "  with  one  another.  Actually  Grimaldi  discern- 


i  So  INJURESOUL. 

ed  the  fact  that  air-currents  are  incessantly  interfluent ;  and  as  air- 
currents  are  light-currents  vhen  stirred  to  intense  active  heat,  he 
simply  speculated  on  the  fact  that  ambient  air  is  governed  by  no  laws 
which  Science  has  yet  named.  Diffraction,  however,  has  confounded 
sciences ;  inasmuch  as  it  now  ministers  to  "  dissolving  views  "  in 
lecture-rooms,  where  experts  in  chemistry  employ  its  "  illusions," 
for  the  configuration  of  lights  in  air  vraisemblanl  of  astronomic 
planets  and  solar  systems. 

NOTE  42,  page  93,  line  10. — To  AIR,  are  referable,  under  Laws  of 
Nature,  the  origin,  economy  and  ends,  of  "  lights  in  heaven  !  "  They 
are  alternate  illuminations  and  occultations  of  heat.  Science  remains 
in  doubt— after  all  so  called  "  discoveries  "  of  sidereal  systems — whe- 
ther our  SUN  may  not  be  "  an  immense  fluid  globe."  On  that  point, 
my  mind  is  "  made  up."  Our  SUN  is  a  ball  of  candescent  AIR  ;  ad- 
vanced on  its  diurnal  transit,  from  East  to  West,  by  Heat-Force  gen- 
erating vortical  motion.  Nature's  LAWS,  governing  air-flows  ;  Na- 
ture's FORCE,  constraining  air-flows  to  Heat-Centres ;  combine  to  sus- 
tain diurnal  combustion  in  this  body  of  candescent  vapors,  which  Our 
Creator  ordinated  to  "  give  light  upon  the  earth  "  by  day,  as  He  as- 
signed the  MOON  to  be  a  lamp  of  night,  when  "  He  made  the  stars 
also."  Lord  ROSSE  was  no  "  undevout  astronomer,"  when  he  erect- 
ed his  three-ton  telescope,  at  a  cost  of  £30,000;  and  it  is  a  favorite 
observation  that  the  study  of  astronomy  tends  to  magnify  our  views 
of  a  "  Supreme  Architect  of  the  Universe,  "  whose  works  astound 
us  with  their  immensities.  But,  Common  Sense  desires  to  ask  why 
OMNIPOTENCE  should  make  displays  of  magnitudes  and  movements 
of  innumerable  worlds,  larger  than  the  earth,  with  no  possibilities 
of  connections  between  world  and  world?  Space  is  infinite,  and 
eternity  limitless  !  Are  we  to  suppose  that  the  Supreme  Architect 
is  occupied  eternally  in  building  structures  which  could  never  fill 
Infinity  ?  In  our  Mosaic  cosmogony  we  deal  with  plain  principles 
and  elements  vouched  for  by  scientific  provings  through  Chemistry. 
But  no  star-seer  guesses  how  "  planets  "  are  planned  and  inhabited, 
unless  he  is  willing  to  be  classed  with  "  cranks  "  like  the  "  Pough- 


INJURESOUL.  181 

keepsie  Seer,"  and  Mr.  Harris  the  "  spiritualist, "  who  gave  us  an 
"  Epic  of  the  Starry  Heavens." 

NOTE  43,  page  96,  line  24.— Am !  continent  of  all  elements,  and 
comprehending  all  creation  !  it  opens  upon  the  arcana  cxlestia  to 
which  science  must  repair  for  instruction  in  astronomy,  as  in  geology, 
chemistry,  and  physiology.  Sunshine  is  ordinated  by  an  incandes- 
cent conditioning  of  air,  within  a  distance  of  sky-view  not  exceed- 
ing the  earth's  diameter.  There  is  no  existence  of  sun  or  moon,  nor  of 
any  star  in  heaven,  except  as  an  apparitional  diffusion  of  light,  like 
illumination  shed  from  any  moving  flame.  Elsewhere  than  in  these 
notes,  (which  are  merely  tentative)  I  hope  to  supplement  assertion 
by  argument  of  "  facts  "  analogously  considered.  It  suffices  for  these 
addenda  to  my  verse,  if  they  apprize  our  speculative  philosophers 
that  SCIENCE  may  be  called  to  a  court  of  inquiry  wherein  the  onus 
firobandi  shall  be  shifted  from  Christianity  to  her  adversaries. 

NOTE  43,  (No. 2)  page  96,  line  24. — Prof.  Thomson  and  other  ex- 
perimenters with  "  air  v  as  a  "medium"  of  light,  produce  "  illu- 
sions," as  they  call  them,  through  refraction  of  a  spectrum.  But  "  spec- 
tral analysis"  subjects  AIR  to  no  test,  but  that  of  refraction  and  re- 
flection. Chemical  action  in  air  is  responsive  to  chemical  action  of  a 
substance  employed.  To  it  may  be  referred  all  varieties  of  phenomena, 
which  scientific  minds  attribute  to  local  air]of  moons  or  stars.  A  con- 
clusion that  the  sun  must  contain  sodium  in  large  quantities,  that  the 
moon  contains  iron,  etc.,  is  mere  moonshine.  The  only  real  light  re- 
flected upon  reflective  minds  by  "  spectral  analysis,"  up  to  this  hour, 
is  a  hypothetic  surmise  of  Prof.  Huggins,  that  comets  (or  their  trails) 
are  luminosities  of  air  in  combustion.  He  is  right  in  his  opinion  that 
combustion  causes  those  luminous  apparitions ;  but  the  combustion 
is  not  of  AIR,  but  of  aerial  impurities,  which  Science  classifies  as  ni- 
trogen, hydrogen,  and  oxygen  gases.  Eliminate  those  three  gases 
from  upper  and  lower  airs  within  our  heaven  and  earth,  and  we 
should  again  breathe  the  air  Adam  breathed  in  Eden.  Science 
classes  pure  carbon  as  a  solid  substance,  and  finds  it  the  chief  con- 
stituent of  limestone,  coals  and  diamonds.  Science  tells  us  that  a 


1 82  INJURESOUL. 

Brazilian  diamond  cannot  be  melted  or  dissolved,  although  it  may  be 
burned  under  intense  heat  of  oxygen  gas.  In  relation  to  these  facts, 
our  philosophers  are  all  charred  by  the  same  burnt  carbon,  as  they 
term  charcoal.  They  smell  of  charcoal  fumes,  and  decide  that  they 
smell  carbonic  gas,  and  that  to  inhale  it  is  death.  They  properly 
avoid  it,  as  breathing  air.  But  it  is  not  carbon  they  avoid  ;  it  is  one 
of  their  own  gaseous  combinations,  other  than  pure  carbon,  which  is 
never  present  in  charcoal  fumes  ;  for  the  simple  reason  that  pure 
carbon  is  pure  heat.  Gases  escape  from  charcoal,  as  from  all  other 
substances  in  combustion;  but  they  are  MALARIA,  whereof  Science  has 
not  yet  sought  the  sole  origin.  All  gases  and  gaseous  compounds, 
and  so-called  "mixtures,"  are  mere  varieties  of  MALARIA. 

NOTE  43,  (No.  3)  page  96,  line  24. — Gases  flow  from  charcoal  in 
an  alembic,  and  a  chemist  names  them  and  describes  their  proper- 
ties. He  thinks  he  eliminates  carbon,  in  a  substance  which  he  calls 
by  that  name,  and  obtains  from  wood  burned  to  cinder,  as  in  a  char- 
coal kiln.  He  posits  carbon  as  a  diamond,  as  coal,  and  as  black  lead ; 
he  discovers  it  in  every  organism,  animal  and  vegetable  ;  in  effect,  as 
an  ingredient  of  all  substances.  But  it  eludes  his  alembic.  He  can- 
not fuse  it.  He  guesses  about  fumes  from  burning  bodies,  and 
guesses  one  of  them  to  be  carbon,  because  it  is  not  one  of  his  other 
gases.  This  is  his  limit  of  knowledge  in  respect  to  pure  air.  Is  it 
marvellous  that  no  progress  is  made  in  ways  and  means  of  helping 
poor  humanity,  suffering  under  afflictions  caused  by  MALARIA  ? 
Here  is  our  Science,  aware  of  poisonous  exhalations,  present  in  the 
air  we  breathe,  and  accepting  such  exhalations  as  natural  constituents 
of  the  "  breath  of  life"  which  sustains  our  vital  forces.  School  chil- 
dren are  taught  that  "  four-fifths  "  of  this  air  we  breathe  are 
nitrogen,  a  gas  so  deadly,  that  it  extinguishes  the  life  of  animals  in- 
haling it.  Science  says  it  kills,  because  it  has  no  power  to  sustain 
life.  Nor  is  it  of  any  actual  available  use.  Yet  our  children  are 
instructed  that  their  Maker  made  this  wicked  and  useless  gas  to  en- 
ter into  our  vital  air  AS  four-fifths  of  ij^  Oxygen  gas,  we  are  told, 
is  necessary  to  life,  and  is  the  most  abundant  element  in  Nature. 


INJURESOUL.  183 

Science  says  that  it  "  not  only  supports  combustion,  but  it  is  also 
necessary  to  the  life  of  animals ; — it  goes  into  the  blood  of  animals, 
and  purifies  it,  but  if  an  animal  were  to  breathe  ptire  oxygen, 
death  would  surely  follow ;  it  may  be  respired  only  when  it  is  mixed 

with  nitrogen." In  other  words,  this  gas  which  kills,  as  a  pure 

gas,  must  be  mixed  with  another  gas,  which  also  kills,  as  a  pure  gas, 
in  order  that  it  may  become  vital  air.  Two  deadly  gases  must  be 
mingled  to  give  us  "breath  of  life."  Science  accounts  for  this  by  a 
supposition  of  chemical  change  ;  but  you  cannot  change  two  poison- 
ous adders  into  a  ringdove. 

NOTE  43,  (No  4)  page  96,  line  24. — As  to  all  scientific  "  gases,"  I 
look  upon  them  simply  cs  adulterations  of  pure  air;  the  air  GOD  gave 
to  man  as  his  "breath  of  life  "  when  Adam  was  created.  I  repeat 
here  that  nitrogen,  oxygen,  hydrogen, — and  their  derivatives, — 
are  abominations  of  Malaria  ;  foreign  to  Nature,  oppugnant  to 
Divine  Providence,  Long  ago  this  world  of  ours  must  have  been 
depopulated  of  man  and  all  other  animal  organisms,  and  ofc.ll  veg- 
etation, if  NATURE  were  not  empowered  by  DIVINE  LAWS,  to  free 
her  life  breath  from  gases  ;  factors  murderous  to  animals  and  plants. 
Nature,  in  every  organism  not  'wholly  dominated  by  malarious  ac- 
cretions, is  empowered  to  eliminate  from  her  vitality  whatsoever  de- 
structive substance  a  current  of  air  may  introduce  to  it.  Our  hu- 
man stomachs  receive  deleterious  compounds  of  gases  with  every 
inhalation  of  breath.  But  CARBON,  as  PURE  HEAT,  in  healthy  stom- 
achs, expels  or  dissolves  those  gases  before  they  infiltrate  blood  ves- 
sels. Our  lungs,  heated  to  vital  force,  are  first  enabled  to  disinte- 
grate atoms  of  malaria  ;  and  every  disintegrated  atom  escapes  lung- 
force  of  heat,  to  encounter  combustive  heat  in  our  livers;  thence, 
flowing  into  gall-ducts,  where  every  air-breath  parts  with  malarious 
nnits  under  Laws  of  Nature,  to  which  I  shall  refer  in  other  notes. 

NOTE  44,  page  100,  line  12.— It  is  to  this  plain  statement  my  words 
in  previous  text  and  notes  have  tended.  Air-currents  are  heat  cur- 
rents, in  movement  as  heat-force ;  and  as  heat-currents  they  may  be 
instantly  stimulated  to  glow  as  currents  of  LIGHT.  "  Diffraction  "  is 


184  INJURESOUL. 

division  of  air-units  interfluent  as  currents  under  Nature's  LAWS  of 
fluid  movement — unit  following  unit,  LIKE  with  LIKE,  incessantly ; 
toward  super-heated  centres  or  other  points  of  direction.  "  Light ! 
heat !  air  1"  are  one  substance,  in  triune  manifestation.  Acceptance 
of  this  absolute  fact — with  its  correlative  fact,  that  HEAT  is  Nature's 
omnipresent  and  omnipotent  FORCE — may  unravel  every  knotted 
skein  of  tangled  philosophy.  It  is  not  in  my  limited  scope  of  dis- 
course here,  that  I  can  deal  with  logical  proofs ;  and  I  reserve  ARGU- 
MENT for  other  pages. 

NOTE  45,  page  102,  line  to. — TWIN  LAWS  ;  dual  in  their  sway  of  all 
fluid  matter,  and  (relatively)  of  liquid  flows.  Twin  laws  of  MOVE- 
MENT ;  constraining  (through  heat-force)  every  fluid  unit  to  cursive 
motion  in  immediate  contact  with  its  LIKE  in  other  fluid  units.  So 
it  is  ordinated,  and  enforced,  that  units  of  each  basic  essence  must 
flow  with  their  LIKE  in  an  air-current  assigned  to  them,  and  carrying 
them,  as  its  freightage,  toward  elemental  subsistence,  in  water  and 
earth,  and  in  ail  derivatives  of  those  elements.  My  apprehension 
traces  no  more,  nor  less,  than  a  chemist  shows  us,  when  he  subjects 
air-currents,  under  stress  of  super-heats  in  his  crucible,  to  precipitate 
salts,  sodium,  and  metallic  bases,  while  dross  and  gases  part  from 
them ;  all  units  accreting  or  flowing  with  their  like,  in  solid,  liquid  or 
fluid  substances. 

NOTE  46,  page  106,  line  16. — Blood  fills,  as  a  medium  of  air-flows, 
all  tissues,  glands,  vesicles  ;  it  stirs  in  all  capillaries,  and  contracts  or 
swells,  with  heat  as  its  vital  force  ;  but  when  air,  as  heat,  ceases  to 
flow  in  an  organism  of  nerves,  veins,  and  arteries,  no  fluidity  per- 
tains to  those  dry  granules  of  crimson  dust  which  Harvey  viewed  as 
a  gushing  and  saltant  fluid.  There  is  no  force  in  Nature  but  heat- 
force.  Its  electric  movement  gives  vitality.  Blood  is  its  medium  of 
energizing  impulsions,  sustentation  of  strength,  and  concurrent  motive 
power  in  animal  systems.  Air-flows,  under  Laws  of  Movement,  con- 
centrate at  Nature's  organic  base,  her  stomach,  and  feed  combustion 
in  that  furnace  of  Nature's  heats;  heat-force  driving  energies  of  heart 
and  diaphragm,  and  their  attachments.  Arrest  vital  breath,  and  we 


INJURE  SOUL.  185 

know  what  soon  follows.  Heat-force  lapses ;  organism  collapses ;  the 
animal  dies. 

NOTE  47,  page  108,  line  6. — MOTION  apparent  in  swirls  of  molecular 
matter;  that  corpuscular  motion,  which  Science  now  terms  "vorti- 
cal ;"  because  it  is  proven  that  molecules  move  as  if  each  were  revolv- 
ing on  an  axis,  by  its  own  local  force.  Neither  Harvey  nor  Des 
Cartes  penetrated  Nature's  mystery  of  corpuscles  as  force-points,  as 
foci  of  heat-force  in  vortices.  Air  was,  as  yet,  loose  motive-power ; 
unharnessed  to  enginery,  as  heat,  compressed  or  expansile,  in  caloric 
or  steam  ;  and  untethered  to  man's  will,  as  electricity.  When  his 
fingers  felt  a  vein,  Dr.  Harvey  counted  pulsations,  and  accounted 
them  to  be  measures  of  velocities  in  blood-flow.  But  if  his  know- 
ledge could  have  compassed  what  is  familiar  to  modern  savans,  as 
"  galvanic  action,"  he  perhaps,  had  apprehended  truth  unknown  to 
this  day,  under  scientific  light :  that  it  is  AIR,  flowing  as  electrized 
heat,  through  blood,  which  liquefies  it ;  which  moves  its  heat-units 
to  rotary  accretion,  as  corpuscles ;  swirling  molecules. 

NOTE  47  (No  2),  page  1 08,  line  6.  — When  malaria  is  eliminated, 
and  precipitated  into  that  poison  sac,  the  gall-bladder,  our  "breath  of 
life  "  flows,  comparatively  pure,  into  a  ventricle  of  the  heart  which 
Dr.  Harvey  supposed  (correctly)  to  be  the  point  d'appui  of  vital 
movement.  Dr.  Harvey  was,  without  question,  the  "  discoverer  of 
circulation."  But  it  was  not  "  circulation  of  the  BLOOD  "  he  discov- 
ered, It  was  Nature's  provisioning  for  internal  flows  of  AIR,  under 
her  Laws,  to  the  end,  originally,  that  any  freightage  of  dust  inhaled 
might  be  voided  into  a  receptacle  for  it,  in  every  organism,  before  it 
was  admitted  to  the  STOMACH;  which  is  a  centre  of  -vital fires,  contin- 
ually replenished  by  influx  of  pure  carbon,  to  renew  and  re-inforce 
combustion  of  food-fuel.  Carbon  is  heat,  to  which  malaria  is  not  add- 
ed, and  of  which  malaria  can  be  a  factor  only  for  evil.  If  we  swal- 
low poison,  it  is  at  once  subjected  to  combust! ve  heats  of  the  stom- 
ach, and  these  combustive  heats  become  empoisoned.  Nature  is 
obliged  to  impel  them  through  veins  and  vesicles.  Poison  is  thus  con- 
ditioned as  a  factor  of  movement  throughout  the  organism.  Hence 


1 86  INJURESOUL. 

it  is  that  bites  of  poisonous  serpents,  injecting  poison,  or  the  saliva 
of  rabid  dogs  introduced  even  to  the  cuticle,  are  promoters  and  agen- 
cies of  empoisoning  force,  and  hence  we  are  hurt  by  impure  food  and 
drink;  because  the  introduction  to  an  organism,  even  through  an  in- 
visible cuticular  vesicle,  or  an  unseen  capillary  of  scalp  or  skin,  of 
any  hurtful  atom — however  minute  -conditions  that  atom  as  a  factor 
of  injury  to  an  organism  in  the  ratio  of  its  force  for  hurt.  NATURE 
cannot  prevent  the  entry  of  malaria  infused  with  her  flowing  air. 
She  can  only,  through  her  force  of  PURE  CARBON,  in  an  organism, 
impel  movement  for  functional  life.  And  if  our  ignorance  or  neg- 
lect of  such  instruction  as  we  gain  through  experience  and  observa- 
tion, as  medical  men  and  chemical  experts,  shall  persistently  impose 
upon  Nature  a  task  abhorrent  to  her  ;  i.  e.  the  enforcement  of  mala- 
ria within  our  systems,  in  lieu  of  her  benefic  distribution  otpure  car- 
bon, as  normal  heat-flows ;  what  then,  is  to  be  said?  Whose  fault, 
whose  responsibility,  is  it,  for  propagation  and  spread  of  disease  in 
this  world  of  ours?  Not  Nature's  fault.  Not  the  responsibility  of 
our  MAKER  and  the  PRESERVER  of  our  life,  through  His  PURE  HEAT  ! 
Only  one  culprit  must  answer  for  these  "ills  which  flesh  is  heir  to," 
no  one  of  which  is  "  natural."  It  is  that  culprit  whose  sins  of  com- 
mission and  omission  brought  Malaria  into  our  world.  It  is  MAN 
himself! 

NOTE  48,  page  108,  line  10. — According  to  Science,  combustion  of 
food  liberates  "carbonic  acid  gas,"  which  permeates  the  animal  system, 
and  is  expelled  therefrom  ;  giving  influx  to  fresh  air,  which,  in  its 
turn,  is  assailed  by  carbonic  acid  gas ;  so  that  our  systems  are  so 
many  laboratories  of  poisonous  "blood-circulation."  Now,  com- 
bustion is,  I  agree,  an  ordained  process  of  heat-accumulation  from 
"fuel,"  whether  posited  in  a  stomach  or  steam-boiler;  and  Eden's 
fruits  may  have  been  pre-posed  in  stomachs  of  Adam  and  Eve,  to  secure 
vital  force  for  their  first  movements.  But  Scripture  is  clear,  that  our 
Maker,  in  viewing  all  his  work,  "  saw  that  it  was  very  GOOD."  Shall 
my  Christian  doctor,  then,  instruct  me  that  Eden's  fruits  generated 
"carbonic  acid  gas,"  and  that  Eden's  air,  as  God  gave  it,  was  contin- 


INJURESOUL.  187 

ent  of  gases  destructive  to  life  ?  My  doctrine  is  not  his  ;  for  my 
Christian  GOD  is  PERFECTION,  and  "  His  works  do  praise  HIM." 

NOTE  49,  page  109,  line  16.— When  philosophers  conclude  that 
combustion  under  a  boiler,  or  in  an  animal  stomach,  is  the  only  and 
sufficient  kinetic  force  drawn  upon  to  move  engine -wheels,  or  heart- 
valves,  they  "  imagine  a  vain  thing."  All  admit  the  indispensable  re- 
quirement of  "draughts  "  upon  furnace-coal,  to  supply  air — with- 
out which  fire  dies  out;  and  of  draught  through  animal  systems — 
without  which  life  wanes  to  decease.  And  my  traction  upon  scientific 
thought,  beyond  air-draughts,  would  only  lead  it  Nature-wise. 

NOTE  50,  page  112,  line  14. — My  faith  reposes  upon  LAWS  and 
FORCE.  I  posit  FORCE,  as  unitary,  in  air-units.  For  me,  these  airs 
we  breathe  are  a  universal  reservoir  of  dynamic  power.  They  flow 
in  utilized  wind,  to  turn  the  wings  of  wind-mills.  As  water  and 
steam,  they  move  machinery.  Science  assumes  that  "  weight,"  in  a 
turbine  water-wheel,  constrains  its  revolutions.  I  ask  Science  the 
cause  of  "  weight."  Newton  could  not  tell  us  what  caused  his  "  Gravi- 
tation," nor  explain  it,  save  as  Weight,  Pressure,  or  Attraction.  I 
require  not  Newton's  hypothesis.  I  know  that  Force  is  in  every  unit  of 
air  ;  that  I  have  only  to  make  a  requisition  upon  air,  for  supplies  of 
force,  and  I  obtain  them.  I  respire  AIR,  at  every  breath.  I  inhale 
force  ;  force  of  heat,  which  inflames  my  food-fuel  to  combustion. 
Ignition  of  food-fuel  must  be  assured  by  contacts  of  fire.  Air-force 
brings  and  applies  its  electric  match. 

NOTE5I,  page  112,  line  24.  Xenophon  of  Kalophon,  declared  his 
apprehension  of  an  invisible  universal  Agency.  A  Supreme  Being, 
absolute  in  power,  self-existent,  infinite  and  eternal,  was  conceived  by 
Parmenides  under  the  name  of  Ens,  Anaxagoras  was  an  excep- 
tionally clear-minded  ontologist,  and  Democritus  penetrated  Nature's 
mysteries  with  marvellous  intuition.  Xenophon's  Absolute  Being 
answered  to  the  Supreme  Nous  of  Anaxagoras.  Democritus  attribut- 
ed to  each  atom  of  the  universe  an  inherent  operative  principle.  An- 
aximenes  supposed  AIR  to  be  the  primordial  element,  whereof  cre- 
ation was  moulded;  and  Anaxagoras  explained  creation  as  the  result 


1 88  INJURE  SOUL. 

of  an  attraction  of  each  element  of  Nature  for  its  own  KIND.  Democ- 
ritus,  accepting  the  atomic  theory,  enlarged  upon  it  by  supposing  that 
subsistent  things  were  constantly  throwing  off  images  of  themselves ; 
and  that  these  images,  or  ideas,  penetrated  our  organs  of  sense,  through 
pores  thereof. 

Note  52,  page  1 13,  line  4.  In  elucidation  of  my  meaning  herein,  I 
shall  only  refer  to  that  psalm  of  David  (  civ.  )  wherein  significant 
allusion  is  made  to  Divine  ways  and  means  of  CREATION,  (verses  2 
— 9  ).  But  I  may  remark,  in  this  connection,  as  elsewhere  intimated, 
that  my  design  in  writing  and  printing  this  little  book  was  to  seek 
for  my  subject-matter  such  hearing  as  public  interest  touching  IN- 
JURESOUL  might  assure,  quite  irrespective  of  new  theories  to  be  ad- 
vanced by  an  unpretentious  writer.  Mankind  is  little  given  to  con- 
cernments of  its  "  temporal  and  eternal  salvation"  unless  its  attention 
be  invoked  through  familiar  formulations  of  accepted  doctrines.  We 
"sugar-gild"  our  facts  of  "  pills  "  for  children ;  and  my  way  of 
broaching  Nature's  truths,  under  cover  of  satiric  verse,  may  commend 
them  to  adults  whose  hearts  are  childly  still.  With  this  opening,  I 
feel  my  way  clear.  And  if  "  minds,  "  wherewith  I  now  commune, 
shall  incline  to  more  communion,  hereafter,  it  is  my  trust  that  LIGHT 
will  broaden  ways  we  walk  together,  in  pursuit  of  it. 

Note  53,  page  1 16,  line  12.  Charles  Darwin  wrote  as  follows  : 
"  A  man  may  bean  ardent  theist  and  an  evolutionist.  My  judgment 
often  fluctuates.  I  have  never  been  an  atheist  in  the  sense  of  deny- 
ing the  existence  of  a  God.  I  think  that, — generally,  (and  more 
and  more  as  I  grow  older)  but  not  always, — an  agnostic  would  be  the 
more  correct  description  of  my  state  of  mind. "  Darwin  pursued 
error,  believing  it  to  be  truth.  So,  likewise,  Huxley  :  patient  in- 
vestigator, large-hearted  scientist,— is  wandering  only  for  lack  of 
leading  LIGHT.  I  have  no  word  of  reprehension  for  such  students  of 
Nature.  I  only  grieve  that  Delilah,  counterfeiting  Nature,  should 
consume  their  Samsonian  strength  of  intellect. 

Note  54,  page  117,  line  10.  Dr.  C.  B.  Radcliffe,  in  the  Contempor- 
ary Review,  dismisses  geologic  "  proofs  "  with  words  of  plain  com- 


INJURESOUL.  189 

mon  sense.  "  I  cannot  see,  "  he  says,  "  why  a  few  thousand  years 
would  not  have  served  for  doing  all  that  had  to  be  done,  in  the  way 
of  simple  stratification."  And  it  is  on  "  stratification  "  that  geologists 
set  forth  their  pretensions  regarding  the  antiquity  of  earth.  But 
Deluc,  in  his  "  Elements  of  Geology,  "  printed  generations  since, 
advanced  his  ideas  that  "  Chaos  "  of  Greek  cosmogony,  was  the 
"  void  "  of  Scripture,  and  received  from  the  Creator  a  certain  quality 
of  LIGHT,  ordinating  "  chemical  precipitations,"  whence  came  the 
crust  of  earth,  which  sunk  in  waters,  and  seas  thus  flooded  lands; 
our  present  continents  emerging  afterwards  from  ocean  deeps.  He 
accepted  Biblical  chronology  as  ample  duration  for  growth  of  contin- 
ents. Sanssure,  also,  asserted  a  theory  of  some  "  elastic  fluid, 
operating  as  volcanic  fire,  and  bearing  up  submerged  land,  on 
water-flows,  to  superimpose  it,  as  layers  of  earth  and  rocks."  No 
deep  discernment  is  required,  to  learn  from  Scripture  language  (  Ps. 
civ.  )  that  Nature's  operations  were  rehearsed  in  those  words, 
"  covered  the  deep,  as  with  a  garment.  "  My  faith,  fortified  by 
chemical  discoveries  patent  to  all  men,  encounters  no  difficulty  in 
Mosaic  mention  of  "  dry  land  ''  appearing  above  receding  "  seas.  " 
Every  age  of  human  observation  testifies  to  changes  in  sub-aqueous 
conformations  of  earth  ;  of  shoals  and  reefs  discovered  where  ship- 
men  formerly  found  no  anchorage  ;  of  waters  receding  from  coast- 
lines, leaving  high  bluffs  where  shallow  beaches  were,  and  founda- 
tions of  masonry,  once  sea-washed,  now  far  inland,  or  "  high  and 
dry  "  on  mountain  sides. 

NOTE  55,  page  117,  line  22. — Good  men  are  troubled,  sometimes, 
by  the  bald  jeers  of  Infidelity,  disparaging  their  BIBLE  as  Divine 
Authority,  because  it  is  also  an  accepted  record  of  human  frailties,  as 
Jewish  history.  But  Bible  teachings  are  not  obscure.  Law  and  Gospel 
are  distinctly  illumined  by  those  Old  Testament  words,  "  Love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  and  their  New  Testament  corollaries,  uttered 
!>y  CHRIST  and  his  apostles,  affirming  that  "  Love"  is  the  essence 
of  religion  ;  LOVE,  in  its  triune  power ;  as  Light  of  Revelation  ;  as 
heat  Of  Human  Progress  in  accord  with  NATURE  ;  and  as  HUMAN 


1 9o  INJURE  SOUL. 

Life,  in  harmony  with  Nature's  Laws  of  Movement,  LIKE  unto  LIKE  ; 
"  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity!  and  the  greatest  of  these  is  Charity  !" 

NOTE  56,  page  118,  line  24. — Philosophers  have  consumed  thou- 
sands of  aggregated  years,  and  treasures  of  TIME,  which  is  "  money," 
in  erecting  their  Babel  towers  on  flowing  airs.  Cui  bono?  To  what 
end  is  philosophy  which  cannot  better  earthly  conditions,  whereby 
our  human  race  is  afflicted  ?  And  if  we  look  upon  these  expenditures 
of  SCIENCE  as  they  ultimate  this  day — in  systems  of  teachings  made 
up  of  errors — widening  and  fastening  FALSEHOOD  on  human  MIND, 
in  antagonism  to  GOD  and  NATURE;  what  utter  and  wicked  squan- 
derings of  LIGHT  do  we  note  ?  Reflective  reasoners  should  consider, 
that  stellar  assumptions  are  based  upon  views  of  stars  by  their  own 
light.  We  are  to  suppose  the  earth's  bulk  (so  insignificant  according 
to  astronomic  data)  can'cast  a  shadow  by  night,  sufficient  to  obscure  an 
immense,  flaming  SUN,  ninety  million  miles  away  ;  (as  astronomers 
reckon  ;)  and  that  our  small  "orb"  requires  twenty-four  hours  to 
revolve  on  an  axis,  while  their  "  planet  "  Jupiter— said  to  be  500,000,- 
ooo  miles  from  us — accomplishes  a  revolution  of  270,000  miles  (so 
they  say)  in  ten  hours.  Learned  editors,  and  college  professors, 
make  mirth  in  comment  upon  JASPER,  that  humble  preacher,  in  Rich- 
mond, Va.  ,  who  disputes  assertions  of  astronomy.  Science  differs 
from  Jasper.  Her  mental  imagery  is  lustrous  with  kaleidoscopic 
sheen,  symmetrically  disposed  by  deceptive  AIRS  ;  while  Jasper's 
countenance  is  dusky.  But  no  light  of  Lord  Rosse's  telescope,  nor 
diameters  of  Lick's  great  achromatic  ground  glass,  shall  ever  "find 
out  God  "  in  SPACE  beyond  these  airs  ;  while  every  ''  little  child,"  in 
Jasoer's  church,  may  discern,  with  Jasper's  faith,  that  "  God  is  every- 
where." 

NOTE  57,  page  127,  line  22. — Mental  work,  arrayed  in  books,  is 
mentioned  as  "Letters;"  educated  writers  are  "  men  of  letters;" 
and  Cadmos,  tradition  avers,  "invented  letters."  But  it  is  my  way 
to  believe  that  the  Author  of  Mind  and  of  Human  Speech  was  no  less 
the  Author  of  "  parts  of  speech."  What  the  utterance  of  Adam 
would  have  been,  if  no  words,  as  names  of  visible  things,  acts,  and 


INJURESOUL.  191 

sensations,  were  impressed  upon  his  mentality,  may  be  inferred  from 
what  we  know  of  such  a  wild  creature  as  the  boy  of  Nuremberg,  who 
was  called  Kaspar  Hauser  ;  a  child  secluded  from  his  birth  :  only  a 
few  words,  impressed  by  tuition  upon  his  mind,  with  some  written 
letters.  Sensations — without  words  to  fix  them  on  memory— are  but 
touches  of  sense,  conveying  no  intelligence.  It  is  obvious  that  Adam 
and  Eve  must  have  received  impressions  of  words  corresponding  to 
their  thoughts ;  and  it  is  not  probable  that  Supreme  Intelligence  im- 
pressed His  human  creatures  with  mere  "baby-talk,"  or  left  them  to 
emit  uncouth  sounds,  by  "jerks,"  as  Max  Miiller  conjectures,  in  his 
theory  that  words  were  vocal  expressions  impelled  by  sensations  or 
perceptions  of  things,  as  things  were  felt  or  perceived.  On  Nature's 
Laws  of  "  MOVEMENT,  like  to  like  "  I  predicate  a  provision  by  Our 
Maker  of  all  e ssence*  of  things,  flowing  in  all-continent  air,  and 
quickly  responsive  to  wills  of  animal  creatures.  No  question  can  be 
raised  respecting  ficts  of  essences  carried  in  air-flows  everywhere; 
essences  which  Science  extracts  from  air,  as  elements  of  earth.  We 
have  only  to  account  for  unknown  essences,  basic  of  mental  as  of  phy- 
sical matter ;  and  my  apprehension  accepts  impressions  as  contact  of 
such  unknown  ESSENCES.  I  am  instructed  that,  when  sense  perceives 
an  impression,  it  is  made  aware  of  a  substance  in  contact  with  it.  And 
why  not  ?  I  affirm,  what  is  not  denied,  that  airis  continent  of  all  sub- 
stance whereof  things  are  made,  through  accretions  of  air  to  water,  of 
water  to  salts,  sands,  earth,  and  all  derivatives  of  earth.  Air  is 
heat ;  a;r  is  light.  Units  of  air.  in  accretion,  compose  all  substances. 
What,  then,  shall  I  conclude  concerning  impressions,  which  become 
thoughts,  but  that  they  are  flows  of  air — of  heat— of  electric  substance, 
which  my  will  summons  to  touch  my  senses, in  obedience  to  Nature's 
Laws  of  movement,  like  unto  like  ?  No  impression  is  possible  with- 
out contact  of  substance  with  substance.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  could 
only  account  to  himself  for  his  "  attraction  of  gravity ''  by  supposing 
some  medium  of  influence— some  substance  in  contact  with  substance. 
Writing  to  Beniley,  he  said — "That  gravity  should  be  innate,  inherent, 
and  essential  to  matter,  so  that  one  body  may  act  upon  another  at  a 


192  INJURE  SOUL. 

distance,  through  a  •vacuum,  without  the  mediation  of  anything  else, 
by  and  through  which  their  action  and/one  may  be  conveyed  from 
one  to  another,  is  to  me  so  great  an  absurdity,  that  I  believe  no  man 
who  has,  in  philosophical  matters,  a  competent  faculty  of  thinking, 
can  ever  fall  into  it.  Gravity  must  be  caused  by  an  agent,  active  con- 
stantly, according  to  certain  laws." 

NOTE  58,  page  131,  line  16. — This  philosopher,  who  attends  con- 
vocations of  "  free-thinkers, "  and  postures  as  an  intimate  of  male 
cranks,  and  of  graceless  female  cranks— who  out-mouth  their  masculine 
colleagues  in  disclaimers  of  authority,human  or  divine — is  mentioned 
here  as  a  "  representative"  of  his  class  ;  an  erratic  class,  consociated 
as  "  advanced  thinkers ;"  their  "  plane  "  (as  they  term  it)of  "  higher 
mind  "  a  dreary  level  of  human  sense,  made  up  of  antiquated  dust- 
atoms  trodden  under  foot  of  Greek  and  Roman  philosophers,  but 
stirred  up,  periodically,  by  Bobs  and  Toms  of  every  land.  Such 
"palmers  "  make  no  pilgrimage  to  "  Holy  Lands  "  in  pursuit  of 
"  Sinai's  Flame."  They  are  "  self-enlightened"  by  INJURESOUL'S 
"  god  of  gods,"  in  each  addled  brain-pan.  We  encounter  these  cranks 
under  various  names ;  from  days  of  Gnostics  to  days  of  Agnostics  ;  ex- 
ploiting as  "Illuminati,"  "Schools  of  thought,"  Theosophists,  He- 
gelians, and  Comptists  ;  or  making  known  their  uneasy  presence  in 
the  world  as  ' '  individualisms  ;"  but  always  "cranks  ;  "  inclined  to  one 
of  two  notions  ;  that  dust  ends  all  things,  or  that  Deity  will  save  all 
souls,  even  that  of  a  "  Christian  Evolutionist." 

NOTE  59,  page  133,  line  6. — Allusion  to  a  neophyte  initiated  in 
Eleusinian  mysteries,  whose  experience  is  rehearsed  in  Thomas  Moore's 
"  Epicurean." 

NOTE  60,  page  135,  line  IO. — That  an  air-current—freighted  with 
germs  of  disease  arising  from  corruption  of  "  Plague"  or  "  Cholera" 
in  an  Asiatic  city — may  carry  fever  germs  in  continuity  of  malarious 
units,  to  an  American  city,  is  as  certain  as  any  movement  of  light- 
flows  in  air.  When  malaria  is  accreted  to  conditions  of  receptivity, 
in  any  city,  that  city  is  imperiled  by  malaria  in  all  places.  Asiatic 
fevers  may  flow  to  it,  under  Laws  of  movement,  LIKE  unto  LIKE. 


1NJURESOUL.  I93 

Air-currents,  bearing  continuities  of  malarious  units,  may  feed  an 
epidemic  in  New  York,  with  poison-germs  from  Jassicore.  What  is 
it  to  say  ?  Are  we  not  communicating,  by  telegraph,  with  Asiatic  cit- 
ies most  remote  ?  What  are  these  electric  flows,  which  "  girdle 
round  about  the  earth,"  but  air-currents,  tenuous  air-currents,  bearing 
electric  heats  upon  wires  ?  Is  it  for  MIND  to  conceive  of  an  air-cur- 
rent's attenuation  and  tenuity  ?  or  of  its  '*  continuity,"  whereof  there  is 
no  "  solution  ?"  Science  tells  us  that  a  spider's  thread  is  woven  of 
six-thousand  filaments ;  that  a  quarter  ounce  of  it  would  extend  four 
hundred  miles  ;  and  that  platinum  wire  may  be  irawn  out  in  a  finer 
thread  than  a  spider's ;  so  that  the  thickness  of  one  hundred  and 
forty  platinum  wires  would  not  equal  the  thickness  of  a  silk-worm 
thread.  Science  tells  us  that  a  grain  of  musk  scents  a  room  for 
years,  without  perceptible  loss  of  weight.  Freights  of  deadly  malaria 
wander  in  unbroken  flows,  from  point  to  point,  of  air,  under 
Nature's  Laws,  by  force  of  tractile  heat.  A  single  germ  of  Yellow 
Fever  or  Cholera,  planted  in  some  receptive  locality,  may  wax  to 
an  epidemic  disease,  decimating,  and  even  depopulating. 

NOTE  61,  page  136,  line  12. — Ambitious  Human  Mind !  it  lacks 
only  direction.  Its  activities  might  be  omnipotent,  as  they  are 
omnipresent.  Nature  lifts  her  plaints ;  wails  her  wants ;  but  her  plaints 
are  ignored,  her  wants  unheeded.  Every  march  of  mind  and  money, 
combined,  proclaims  intents  of  PROGRESS;  but  one  march  "  goes, 
ballooning"  in  heavenly  airs,  with  enginery  of  "movement"  represent- 
ed by  observatories  and  immense  telescopes;  while  another  march 
abuts  upon  Arctic  ices,  where  Science  pursues  her  phantom  of  a 
"Northwest  passage"  outside  of  this  world  and  its  ordained  water 
ways, 

NOTE  62,  page  137,  line  4. — "Curses"  and  "ills,"  afflicting 
Humanity  and  Nature,  are  resultant  from  "  wills  "  of  mankind.  But 
alas  !  they  subsist;  no  denial  of  that;  and  it  is  only  through  an  appre- 
hension, by  MlND,  of  its  own  origin,  and  of  all  origins,  that  an  alliance 
of  Mankind  with  Nature  may  be  so  far  established  as  earthly  malver- 
sations of  heavenly  ordinations  shall  permit.  MALARIA  is  fastened 


194  INJURESOUL. 

upon  us.  Four  fifths,  at  least,  of  our  vital  breath  is  loaded  with  it  ; 
and  the  air  we  dwell  in  weights  physical  no  less  than  human  nature, 
with  hurtful  pressures  of  congested  heats.  Science  is  vindicating 
Nature  and  her  Divine  Author,  by  every  help  for  human  ails,  every 
method  devised  for  reclamation  of  barren  land-areas,  and  the  removal 
of  obstacles  to  human  intercourse.  With  every  -wrong  discovered, 
we  realize  that  it  is  remediable  or  palliative,  by  right  ways  and 
means;  plainly  showing  to  us,  that  wrongs  of  all  sorts  are  abnormal 
and  unnatural. 

NOTE  63,  page  138,  line  14. — BIBLE  light  on  "  Political  Economy" 
satisfies  my  common  sense  better  than  two  thousand  books  extant 
upon  it,  from  Adam  Smith  and  Ricardo,  to  Goldwin  Smith  and 
Ricardo  redivivus,  as  Henry  George.  Advised  by  Scripture  of  an 
actual  allotment  of  SOIL  to  the  first  family— as  its  "  Garden  of  Eden" 
—  I  discern  direction  for  mankind,  in  ways  of  Nature.  When  Deity 
—as  Maker  and  Owner  of  this  earth— ordained  a  location  of  Adam 
and  Eve  within  designated  bounds,  the  ordainment  indicated  that  prop- 
erty-possession was  to  be  personal,  not  communal;  and  that  children 
of  Adam  and  Eve  were  to  locate,  at  proper  periods,  on  defined  land- 
areas,  within  stated  hounds  ;  so  that  every  family  might  cultivate 
and  enjoy  its  own  family  heritage  ;  its  tenure  absolute,  as  property 
in  fee,  so  long  as  terms  of  the  lease  should  be  observed  ;  those  terms 
recorded  by  MOSES,  (Gen.  ii.  15)  "  And  the  LORD  GOD  took  the 
man,  and  put  him  into  the  garden  of  Eden,  to  dress  it,  and  to  keep 
it."  Well  were  it,  if  Adam's  posterity,  in  early  ages,  had  heeded 
Divine  direction,  by  allotments  of  homesteads  to  families  ;  their 
tenures  of  possession'  recited  by  this  verse  of  Genesis  :  to  "dress" 
and  "to  keep"  to  cultivate  and  to  hold,  as  landed  estates,  assured 
forever  to  users  ;  their  only  title-deeds  to  be  uses  and  usufructs. 

NOTE  64,  page  139,  line  8.— Mental  impressions  are  substances, 
flowing  as  essences  in  air-currents. ;  air-units,  which  are  units  of  light 
and  heat ;  and  they  answer,  with  electric  celerity,  the  summons  of 
every  will,  through  Nature's  heat-force,  under  her  Laws  of  Movement, 
like  to  like.  This  air  we  breathe  is  our  font  of  words,  as  parts,  or 


INJURESOUL,  195 

components,  of  speech;  an  ambient  thesaurus  of  words  in  all  tongues 
of  mankind,  since  speech  became  polyglot.  My  belief  is  that  an 
original  language  was  given  to  our  first  Parents.  Philologic  discus- 
sion I  postpone.  Language  has  kept  pace  with  perversions  of  primal 
provisions  for  human  movements  in  all  ways.  But  language  is  stored, 
with  all  other  essences  of  substance,  in  the  air  we  breathe  ;  and  from 
these  airs  are  summoned— at  our  WILLS — whatever  words  we  know 
as  words,  to  the  extent  of  our  acquaintance  with  any  language. 

NOTE  65,  page  140,  line  6.— Natural  air-currents,  by  stress  of  cru- 
cial heat,  consign  their  freights  to  the  chemist,  and  he  receipts  for 
them,  as  salts,  sodium,  and  metals.  I  affirm  that  Nature  knows  no 
other  bases  of  earthly  substances.  All  "compounds"  referred  for 
their  origin  to  "gases  "  of  Science,  are  excrescent  and  unnatural.  So- 
dium is  the  oceanic  base  of  brine;  and  brine  is  precipitated  as  units  of  air 
and  its  eternal  "alter  ego,"  HEAT,  to  become  salts  and  crystals.  There 
is  no  distinction  between  air,  heat,  and  light,  in  fluid  subsistence. 
But  when  force  of  heat  operates  creatively,  its  first  product  is  vapor, 
which  liquifies  into  water;  its  next  product — accreted  heat-units—per- 
ceptible as  foam  and  froth ;  its  third  product,  brine,  basic  of  salt ;  its 
fourth  product,  salt,  accreted  of  air  and  heat,  making  substances 
manifest  as  concrete  LIGHT  ;  its  fifth  product,  atoms  or  molecules  of 
salt,  accreting  to  grains  of  sand.  My  premise  is  this  ;  that  heat-units, 
under  agitations  of  heat-force  in  seas,  accrete  to  an  original  substance 
as  sea  foam  :  and  I  accept,  as  its  sign,  that  SODIUM,  of  Chemistry, 
which  is  present,  as  an  essential  oil,  in  every  substance  ;  largely  in 
animal  formations.  It  is  nutriment  in  an  egg,  as  in  mammalian  milk. 
All  seeds  and  germs  encyst  it.  Decay  and  death  retain  it.  SODIUM 
is  last  with  all  mortality,  as  it  is  anterior  to  all  birth.  It  is  hoary  crust 
on  ivied  ruin;  it  is  grave-mould.  Dr.  Dalton  admires,  he  says, the  mir- 
aculous transformation  going  on  in  the  interior  "of  an  animal  system, 
whereby  the  gluten  of  bread,  the  caseine  of  milk,  and  the  albumen 
of  eggs,  are  concreted  into  the  bones,  the  membranes  and  the  ner- 
vous tissues ."  This  "  miracle  of  Nature  "  is  referable  to  Laws  of  LIKE 
and  movement,  operative  through  heat-force  ;  and  in  every  filament 


196  INJURE  SOUL. 

of  a  tissue,  every  fibrine  molecule,  of  osseous,  muscular,  and  vascular 
substance,  we  may  trace  its  oleic  base,  its  essential  element ;  percep- 
tible as  its  odor,  or  its  olid  ;  when  heat-force  stirs  it  into  fragrant  or 
foetid  air-flows. 

NOTE  65  No  2,  page  140,  line  6. — Motes  and  flecks  of  innocuous  mat- 
ter might  flow  even  in  PURE  HEAT  ;  which  was  Nature's  air,  breathed 
by  animals  in  years  of  Adam  and  Eve,  before  any  unnatural  substance 
subsisted.  Pure  heat  is  pure  carbon  ;  constituent  of  a  pure  diamond. 
That  Primal  earth,  which  pre-diluvial  mankind  inhabited,  was  origin- 
ally conditioned  to  sustain  immortal  human  beings.  Divine  Will,  I 
believe,  designed  our  race  to  subsist  forever  in  happiness  under  Na- 
ture's Laws  of  Movement  and  Like.  All  matter  was  "  good. "  Move- 
ment of  like  with  like  must  have  assured  perpetuity  of  "good."  Ani- 
mal decay  could  simply  come  to  pass  as  disintegration  of  animals  made 
for  man's  uses ;  to  supply  his  food,  raiment,  and  other  substances. 
Effluvia  of  animal  or  vegetable  substance  would  flow  as  fluid  heat, 
whereof  all  matter  was  composed.  Mankind,  endued  with  immortal 
souls,  would  renew  consumed  flesh,  in  perfect  proportions  of  youth 
and  maturity  ;  and  beyond  maturity  neither  decadence  nor  senility  of 
body  or  mind  could  come ;  because  human  bodies  must  be  continually 
renewing  their  pristine  freshness,  so  long  as  Nature's  Laws  should 
continue  normal  movements  of  LIKE  to  LIKE.  Is  it  not  clear  that 
such  conditionings  of  mankind  must  have  preserved  undying  exist- 
ence ?  Is  it  not  correspondingly  clear  that  physical  NATURE  could 
never  lapse  from  her  original  goodness  and  purity,  so  long  as  her 
ordinations  should  accord  with  Divine  Design  ?  What,  then,  brought 
physical  Nature  into  variance  from  Divine  Design?  What  disturbed 
her  normal  relations  with  God  and  man  ?  Unquestionably  such  malver- 
sations of  her  subsistence  must  have  followed  departures  from  her 
LAWS  ;  and  such  departures  could  not  have  been  her  own  determina- 
tion, nor  that  of  Deity.  Two  Laws  only  were  to  be  obeyed  ;  that  of 
LIKE  to  LIKE,  which  would  assure  all  mental  and  physical  growth  ; 
all  improvements  and  perfections  of  ways  and  means  toward  human 
happiness  ;  and  that  of  MOVEMENT,  assisted  by  NATURE'S  FORCE  of 


INJURESOUL.  197 

PURE  HEAT.  What  possible  ill  could  come  upon  earth  while  obedi- 
ence to  these  TWIN  LAWS  preserved  mankind  in  harmonious  relations 
with  physical  Nature  ?  But  an  infraction  of  one  was  infraction  of  the 
other. 

NOTE  66,  page  141,  line  6. — It  is  an  ordination  of  Providence, 
which  places  our  breathing  apparatus,  as  porch-way  and  hall-ways  to 
our  penetralia  of  organic  life,  a  double-gated  heart,  and  its  inner 
places  of  household  use  and  resort ;  and  if  it  be  another  providential 
ordination  that  adapts  our  lungs  to  purposes  which  obviously  assure 
nitration  of  suspired  air ;  and  if  a  third  interposition  locates  our  liver 
as  an  agency  of  detergent  action,  whence  bile  is  precipitated  upon 
membraneous  ducts,  to  collect  in  that  sac  of  acid  heat,  the  gall-bladder ; 
and  if  an  exudation  of  gall  drops  continuously  upon  the  pancreatic 
gland,  and  is  conveyed  by  that  duct  to  the  stomach;  there  to  concen- 
trate acid  heats,  as  gastric  juice ;  so  far,  we  may  follow  Nature's 
ways,  as  helps  to  hurts  inhaled  with  any  breath  of  air.  And  if  it 
is  true,  as  I  affirm,  that  detergent  action  of  thoracic  and  pulmonary 
glands,  and  of  liver  tissues,  must  depend  upon  degrees  of  tempera- 
ture in  these  organic  structures,  as  compared  with  local  heats  of 
stomach,  of  gall-bladder,  and  of  pancreatic  ducts;  if  it  be  true, 
moreover,  that  a  higher  condition  of  heat  in  throat  and  lungs,  than  in 
liver  and  gall-bladder,  invites  malarious  flows,  and  constrains  their 
detention  and  deposit  of  virus  in  larynx,  bronchial  glands,  and  lung- 
cells,  inciting  inflammation  ;  then  it  should  be  the  way  of  a  good 
physician  to  ascertain,  as  his  first  duty,  the  degree  of  heat  subsisting 
in  liver,  in  gall-bladder,  and  in  pancreas  ;  and  see  to  it,  then,  that  he 
at  once,  reduces  the  temperature  of  throat  and  lungs,  while  raising 
heats — natural  or  artificial — in  every  detergent  agency,  wherewith 
NATURE'S  provisionings  aid  him,  when  he  works  with  her,  in  compre- 
hension of  her  LAWS  and  FORCE.  We  have  heard  enough  of  stale 
repetitions ;  rehearsing  medical  troubles  with  inflamed  follicles,  in- 
ert glands,  torpid  liver,  congested  lungs,  arrested  secretions,  and 
unnumbered  stages  of  disorders  on  their  road-ways  to  bronchitis, 
pneumonia,  jaundice,  lithiasis,  dropsy,  and  "  Bright's  Disease. "  It 


198  INJURES  OUL. 

is  no  business  of  mine,  to  teach  practitioners  of  medicine.  But  it  is 
my  affair  to  reiterate  that  AIR,  as  HEAT,  circulates  in  every  vein, 
vesicle,  capillary,  filament,  and  fibre,  of  nerves  and  glands;  that  AIR, 
as  heat,  imparts  vortical  motion  to  every  corpuscle  of  blood  or 
lymph ;  that  AIR,  as  HEAT,  under  Laws  of  Movement  unto  Like, 
must  inevitably  flow  toward  any  locale  of  GREATER  HEAT  ;  and  that 
this  accounts  for  all  CONGESTION  ;  because  an  arrested  unit  of  flowing 
heat  is  crowded  upon  by  other  cursive  units,  and  ACCRETION  follows 
— of  units  to  molecules — whereby  abnormal  heat  waxes  to  inflam- 
mation ;  enforced  incessantly  by  every  suspiration  of  breath. 

NOTE  66  No.  2,  page  141,  line  6. — LIGHT,  in  Scripture,  is  GOD  ;  the 
Dwelling  of  God;  His  Instrumentality.  In  physics,  it  is  HEAT, 
active  or  latent,  as  combustion.  Light,  heat,  and  air  are  ONE  ;  the 
primordial  element,  whence  all  things  are  processive,  from  fluidic  to 
liquid  and  solid  conditionings.  Air  cannot  be  consumed.  It  is,  on 
the  contrary,  that  Universal  Solvent  which  philosophy  has  failed  to 
find,  because  philosophers  look  beyond  its  manifest  operations,  to 
posit  some  element  more  subtile,  which  is  not  in  existence.  Heat  is 
air-force,  and  a  chemist  identifies  it,  when  he  eliminates  malaria 
from  air,  and  designates  a  remainder  of  CARBON.  Those  gases  which 
he  classifies  as  nitrogen,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen,  are  simply  and  solely 
secretions  of  malaria,  infiltrating  air  ;  as  air  is  made  the  "  common 
carrier  "  of  all  fluidic  substances,  natural  and  unnatural,  to  help  or 
to  hurt  mankind,  under  Laws  of  Nature.  Some  years  ago  the 
scientific  world  was  transiently  stirred  by  an  announcement  that 
Prof.  LOCKYER  had  discovered  what  he  termed  a  "  fifth  gas,"  insolu- 
ble, and  a  sol  vent  of  other  gases.  His  experiments  had  revealed  to 
him,  without  doubt,  a  presence  of  pure  carbon;  /.  e.  electrically 
pure  heat.  But,  like  Des  Cartes,  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  when  both 
those  philosophers  arrived  at  the  threshold  of  Nature's  taber- 
nacle, and  beheld  her  LIGHT,  streaming  through  vortices  of  irides- 
cent glory,  this  clear-minded  savant,  who  is  editor  of  a  scientific 
magazine  called  NATURE,  has  dallied  with  his  opportunity,  in  defer- 
ence, perhaps,  to  that  SCIENCE  which  he  adorns  as  a  thinker,  and 
might  illustrate  as  a  discoverer. 


INJURESOUL.  199 

NOTE  66,  No  3,page  141, line  6.— SUPREME  WILL  ordained  a  proces- 
sion of  sequences.in  allotted  areas  of  Movement,  to  carry  into  execution 
DIVINE  DESIGN.  Can  it  be  denied  that  CREATION  would  result  ? 
When  every  unit  of  heat  was  a  unit  of  FORCE,  and  all  units  were 
stirred  consentaneously  as  motors  of  movement  in  each  sequence  of 
accretion— unit  by  unit,  LIKE  with  LIKE— what  else  could  be,  but 
co-ordinate  advance  of  movement  and  material  toward  consummation 
of  Divine  Design  ?  Moses  tells  us  that  Divine  Power — "  SPIRIT  of 
GOD" — moved  upon  vapors.  Vapors  are  the  first  outcome  of  heated 
Air.  Liquified,  they  are  conditioned  as  water.  Heat-action,  through 
sunshine  on  watery  vapor,  ordinates  that  familiar  apparition,  the 
rain-bow.  May  we  not  apprehend  that  analogous  conditionings  of 
vapors,  under  heat-force,  made  luminous  distinction  between  waters 
of  the  "  deep"  and  incumbent  airs,  so  that  LIGHT  and  DARKNESS 
flowed  as  apparitions  apart  ?  "  And  God  called  the  light  DAY.and  the 
darkness  he  called  NIGHT." 

'  NOTE  67,  page  145,  line  14. — When  Cicero  wrote :  "  Quo  proprius 
aberat  ab  ortu  et  divina  progenie,  hoc  melius  ea  quse  erant  vera  cerne- 
bat,"  he  surmised  that  even  apparent  divergences  of  Divine  out- 
comes must  have  emanated  from  true  INTELLIGENCE  ;  as  LAW 
alone  can  operate  effects,  from  causes.  Cicero,  in  common  with  Lat- 
in reasoners  of  his  age,  conceived  of  an  Infinite  Mind,  personified 
as  Jove,  ruler  of  Gods  and  men,  in  accordance  with  an  Inflexible  Ne- 
cessity. His  apprehension  failed  to  compass  an  idea  of  that  "  Un- 
known God  "  Who  is  LAW  personified,  of  whom  the  apostle  Paul  re- 
minded his  Athenian  audience,  on  Mars'  Hill:  "  HIM,  therefore, 
whom  ye  ignorantly  worship,  preach  I  now  unto  you."  Not  seldom 
was  worship  lifted,  by  some  heathen  sage,  in  ascription  of  all 
powers  and  procedures  to  an  INFINITE  MIND  ;  and  it  is  evident  that 
DIVINE  LIGHT  flowed  upon  such  "advanced  minds,"  with  power 
akin  to  that  Sinai  Flame  which  burned  upon  lips  and  pens  of  Isaiah, 
Daniel,  and  other  Hebrew  prophets.  But  in  our  day,  philosophers 
are  more  intent  on  framing  laws  of  their  own,  to  sway  celestial  and 
terrestrial  movements,  than  upon  any  motion  of  themselves  toward 


200  INJURE  SOUL. 

Nature  and  her  Laws.  Men  sink  artesian  wells  in  all  soils,  to  purvey 
fresh  water,  and  their  gardens  are  irrigated  by  perennial  flows  of  fresh 
water  from  multitudinous  springs  on  a  sea-girt  land- area,  like  Long 
Island  ;  and  yet  it  is  taught  in  school-books  that  ocean-areas  receive 
salt-washings  from  lands,  to  continue  their  briny  secretions.  No 
scientist  has  inquired  concerning  the  origin  of  salt ;  nor  surmised 
that  heat-force,  in  wave-action,  accretes  "  heat-units  "  in  sea-foam  ; 
or  that  sea-foam  (which  I  elsewhere  accept  as  that  product  of  chem- 
ical test,  called  sodium)  is  basic  of  salt  ;  as  it  is  basic  of  metal-ele- 
ments ;  simply  because  it  is  AIR — base  of  all  things  ;  and  is  as  much 
a  product  of  heat,  when  it  froths  on  a  "  whipt-syllabub  "  as  when 
cresting  billows,  or  accreting  as  "  fire-balls  "  in  the  wake  of  a  Mis- 
souri cyclone.  LAW  ordinates  its  action,  under  every  form  or  con- 
ditioning, as  normal  or  abnormal  heat.  We  are  cognizant  of  its  effect 
in  what  Newton  called  "  force  of  gravitation,"  impelling  movement 
of  a  waterfall  ;  and  we  employ  it  then  to  whirl  our  mill-wheels.  But 
mankind  tarried  for  Watts  to  learn  that  heat-force,  augmented  and 
confined,  would  become  a  resistless  power,  in  steam  ;  although  phil- 
osophers had  witnessed  phenomena  of  heat-force  in  steam  with  every 
exhalation  rising  under  sunshine  from  misty  meadows.  Mankind 
waited  for  Franklin  to  win  electric  sparks  from  a  passing  cloud,  and 
for  Morse  to  apply  their  force  to  electric  wires,  and  for  Edison  to 
flash  them  as  force  of  heat-action,  fed  by  concentric  air-flows. 

NOTE  68,  page  146,  line  22.  It  is  assumed  by  learned  teachers 
cf  minds,  that  our  Bible  account  of  CREATIOX  is  incorrect  ;  because 
it  differs  from  certain  formulations  of  human  thought  in  books,  set 
forth  as  SCIENCE.  Religious  people  are  asked  by  these  learned 
teachers,  to  reject  divers  chapters  of  the  BIBLE,  basic  of  Christian 
Faith,  which  are  in  strict  accordance  with  Science  itself,  as  instructive 
of  things  known  to  every  chemist.  Geologers  and  astronomers  wish 
us  to  ignore  the  evidence  of  our  senses  ;  to  deny  that  this  earth  was 
created,  through  sequences  of  formations  and  transformations  of 
substance,  as  MOSES  recorded  ;  when  we  are  witnesses  ourselves  of 
every-day  phenomena  exactly  similar.  On  the  other  hand,  neither 


IN  JURE  SOUL.  201 

a  geologer  nor  an  astronomer  is  able  to  adduce  a  single  fact  of  evi- 
dence to  prove  that  our  earth  is  older  than  ages  computed  in  accord- 
ance with  Scriptural  time  ;  or  that  it  revolves  on  an  axis  as  a  whirl- 
ing globe  ;  or  that  stars  are  revolving  and  coursing  planets ;  or  that 
any  solar  system  is  existent ;  or  that  Science  has  any  ground  save 
conjecture  for  her  teachings  regarding  sidereal  kws  and  movements, 
or  for  her  speculations  respecting  geologic  periods  of  chaotic  and  abor- 
tive movements  of  matter,  struggling  to  make  itself  into  the  world 
we  inhabit.  In  effect,  it  is  demanded  of  CHRISTIANITY  that  she 
shall  reconcile  her  FAITH  with  FICTION.  No  foundation  whatever, 
beyond  human  belief,  is  presented  by  SCIENCE  for  her  theories 
formulated  by  Copernicus,  Kepler,  and  Newton,  in  lieu  of 
Ptolemaic  astronomy,  which  swayed  learned  minds  during  eleven 
centuries  before  "  Keplerian  laws  "  were  substituted.  Not  one 
"fact"  of  so-called  "astronomic  facts,"  could  be  received  as  legal 
evidence  in  an  impartial  court  of  law.  Science  claims  no  tenable 
ground  of  its  own,  yet  assumes  to  advance  against  Bible  grounds, 
when  Bible  grounds  are  accredited  facts,  based  on  chemical  Science. 
Astronomy  and  Geology  are  ex  curia,  as  legal  pleaders,  yet  they 
venture  disputation  of  Mosaic  statements,  which  are  supported  by 
Science  itself,  as  a  chemical  witness.  But  apart  from  the  absurd 
demands,  made  by  Philosophy,  that  Religion  shall  give  up  Bible- 
truth,  when  it  is  truth  proven  by  Science  itself,  we  have  another, 
and  an  imperative  reason,  for  summary  dismissal  of  scientific 
assumptions  adverse  to  Mosaic  cosmogony.  Those  assumptions, 
entertained,  would  deprive  us,  at  once  of  GOD  and  MAN.  They 
would  relegate  all  ideas  concerning  a  SUPREME  BEING,  to  the 
domain  of  Platonic  or  Neo-Platonic  abstractions,  or  to  the  compass 
of  mythologic  superstitions  in  Pagan  ages  and  countries.  We 
should  abandon  our  "  God  of  the  Bible,"  and  reject  His  Image,  as 
He  made  it,  i.n  Adam  and  Eve.  His  "  Humanity  "  would  be  lost 
to  us,  and  without  His  Imaged  "  Humanity,"  as  Moses  presents  it, 
there  could  be  no  cognition  of  GOD  as  "Father  of  Mankind;"  as 
"  Our  Father  in  Heaven,"  whose  "  mercy  endureth  forever." 


202  INJURESOUL. 

Christian  Hope  would  perish,  with  Hebrew  Faith.  Science  would 
annul  Mosaic  authority  for  GOD,  our  MAKER  ;  and  if  that  authority 
be  lost,  there  is  no  longer  a  Hebrew  Faith  or  a  Christian  Creed. 
Prophecy  falls,  as  rhapsodic  declamation  of  Jewish  bards ;  incon- 
sequential as  Hesiod's  allegories  or  Cassandra's  vaticinations.  Mo- 
saic Scripture  is  Christianity's  corner-stone.  Remove  it,  and  her 
Temple  totters,  her  worship  wanders,  her  priesthoods  are  preten- 
ders. 

NOTE  69,  page  147,  line  14. — Unapprised  of  Eternal  and  Supreme 
Laws,  operative  through  Heat-Force,  our  modern  discoverers  have 
dealt  with  effects  only — with  phenomena;  ignoring  omnipresent 
CAUSE.  What  now,  if  indices  of  Law,  and  Cause,  and  Force,  which 
I  suggest,  shall  direct  their  philosophic  ways  intelligently  ?  And 
what,  on  the  other  hand,  if  words  I  write  are  ignored  or  slighted  ? 
Schiller  may  speak  to  laggards,  I  shall  have  done  with  them  : — 

"  Da  noch  alles  lag  in  weiter  Feme, 
Da  hattest  Du  Entschluss  und  Muth ; 
Und  jetzt,  da  der  Erfolg  gessichert  ist, 
Da  fangst  Du  an  zu  zagen." 

NOTE  70,  page  149,  line  6.  —  "Doubts"  may  be  pardoned,  when  I 
asseverate  the  truth  that  icicles  are  congested  heat-units;  because 
preconceived  notions  oppose  cold  to  heat,  as  its  negation.  But  when 
all  effects  of  HEAT,  as  a  force  olfire,  (except  combustion)  are  trace- 
able in  frost-burn  from  contact  with  congelated  metal,  or  a  keen 
wind,  or  a  current  of  cold  air,  generating  fever  ;  and  when  cold 
hardens  to  congestion,  as  heat  does  ;  and  congestion  yields  to  heat- 
force  always  ;  it  is  not  unlearning  too  much  if  we  reconsider  our 
notions  regarding  cold,  as  a  negation  of  heat;  except  so  far  as  it  is 
actually  an  electric  force — the  negative  of  positive  heat-force  ;  static,  or 
latent  force,  in  contradistinction  from  dynamic  power.  Ice-blocks  are 
stagnant  heat-units  accreted  to  atoms  of  inert  light.  Melt  ice,  and 
light  disappears  in  heat-flows.  Pour  hot  water  into  a  spout,  under 
temperature  below  zero,  and  its  flowing  units  and  atoms  of  heat 
speedily  crystallize  into  heat  inert,  which  is  ice  ;  glistering  as  Licit? 


INJURE  SOUL.  203 

unless  its  heat-units  were  discolored  as  they  flowed.  Imprisoned 
thus  as  INERT  HEAT,  air-units  are  unnaturally  conditioned,  and  they 
repel  heat-flows,  in  ratios  of  their  static  force,  or  resistance  as  inertia. 
Shallow  incrustations  of  frost,  on  your  window  pane,  yield  to  heat- 
flows  of  a  fire  or  sunshine.  Congelations  of  deep  snows,  and  areas  of 
solid  ice,  resist  heat-flows.  Hence  those  apparitions  of  electric  lights 
above  masses  of  snow  and  ice  ;  the  Aurora  Borealis  repelled  from 
Arctic  latitudes.  Heat-flows  impinge  upon  'Solid  blocks  of  ice,  and 
recoil  unwelcomed.  Nature's  Law  of  Movement  to  Like  is  in- 
fracted by  her  own  unnatural  conditioning.  Her  normal  fluidity, 
as  AIR,  is  congested  abnormally  ;  her  heat  and  light  are  no  longer 
in  reciprocal  movement  as  air-currents.  NATURE,  moulder  of  all 
accretion,  may  ordinate  ice,  for  man's  uses  ;  but  ice-bergs,  ice-floes, 
glaciers  in  avalanchine  movement,  and  snow-storms,  are  alien  to  her 
natural  heat-flows  ;  perversions  of  MOVEMENT,  like  whirlwinds, 
tornadoes,  and  volcanic  eruptions. 

Note  71,  page  149 line  12. — "For  DEITY'S  sake!"  is  my  literal 
apprehension  of  deep  significance  in  those  words  of  Scripture.  (Ps. 
(civ.  2.)  "Who  coverest  Thyself  with  LIGHT,  as  with  a  garment ;" 
and  (2  Cor.  vi.  14.)  "What  communion  hath  LIGHT  with  darkness  ?" 
indeed  in  various  allusions  to  LIGHT  as  an  encompassment  of  Deity. 
It  is  only  necessary  for  me  to  conceive  of  a  FIRST  CAUSE,  the 
synonym  of  Immaculate  Love,  Light,  and  Life;  and  of  LAWS,  eter- 
nally enforced,  which  move  all  essences  and  elements  to  concert  with 
their  LIKES  ;  and  I  am  at  once  instructed  that  no  flow  of  light  save 
Immaculate  Love,  Light,  and  Life,can  return  upon  Him  whose  LIKE 
is  not  anywhere  but  in  HIMSELF.  Here,  then,  my  GOD  abides  for- 
ever; in  His  "bright  cloud,"  impenetrable  by  any  unit  of  substance 
which  is  not  His  own  ineffable  LIGHT  ;  an  apparition  whereof  was 
vouchsafed  to  PAUL  ;  when  he  beheld,  on  his  way  to  Damascus, 
"a  light  from  heaven  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun."  Malaria 
may  envelope  all  substances  which  have  issued  from  His  Nature  ; 
and  His  Nature,  under  her  own  Laws,  may  be  afflicted,  through  du- 
ration of  earthly  matter,  by  perversions  of  His  ordinations  and  forces 


204  IN  JURE  SOUL. 

under  malverse  wills  of  mankind.  But  God  abides  Immaculate  !  the 
All-good  !  the  All-wise  !  His  Eternal  Laws  defend  Him  from  ap- 
proximation of  evil.  He  "dwells  in  Light!" — "  GOD  is  LIGHT  !" 
When  TIME  shall  pass  away — when  the  elements  melt  with  "  fervent 
HEAT"  these  airs  of  ours  shall  know  no  future  "  gases. " 

NOTE  72,  page  149,  line  26. — When  we  know  GOD,  as  an  EXIST- 
ENCE shielded  from  all  return,  upon  His  Ineffable  Holiness,  of  any 
unit  thereof  which  is  unholy,  through  earthly  contacts ;  we  may  know 
that  ETERNAL  LAWS  must  decide  all  questions  of  salvation  for  souls  ; 
because,  under  Laws  of  Movement,  LIKE  to  LIKE,  no  disembodied 
soul  can  flow,  as  a  spiritual  substance,  to  any  companionship,  or  to 
any  place,  except  to  its  LIKE.  Comprehending  this  inexorable  con- 
dition  of  spiritual  movement,  we  may  understand  those  Scripture 
collocations:  "Judas  by  transgressions  fell,  that  he  might  go  to 
his  own  place;  "  (Acts  i,  25)  and  "  I  will  go  and  return  to  my  place;  " 
the  words  ascribed  to  ELOHIM  (Hosea  v,  15).  We  may  conceive  of 
ELOHIM'S  "  place  "  as  an  encompassment  of  "  Immaculate  Light, 
Love,  and  Life  "  supernally  removed  from  the  remotest  contagion  of 
this  UNIVERSE  He  made,  through  permitted  processes  of  CREATION, 
under  Laws  of  Nature.  A  remarkable  passage  of  Scripture  (Gen, 
xxiv.  3,) — where  Abraham  makes  his  steward  ''swear  by  the  LORD, 
GOD  of  HEAVEN,  and  the  GOD  of  the  EARTH  " — instructs  me  that  the 
ONE  GOD  of  Hebrew  worship  was  adored  by  its  founder  as  a  DUAL- 
ITY ;  as  JEHOVAH-ELOHIM—  ruling  His  INFINITY  of  Heaven  ;  while 
swaying  His  Earthly  creation  as  "  JEHOVAH."  That  passage  of 
Genesis— never  explained  by  "  Elohist"  or  "Jehovist,"  in  an  idle 
controversy  of  centuries  —  advises  me  of  Light  imparted  to  Abraham, 
revealing  to  his  faith  the  presence  of  his  DEITY,  as  the  "  Spirit  of 
God"  in  this  world  ;  His  IMMANENCE  of  FLAME,  flowing  from  LOVE, 
LIGHT,  and  LIFE,  as  OMNIPOTENT  ENERGY,  Maker  of  this  Universe 
we  inhabit.  JEHOVAH-ELOHIM—  "  Lord  God  "—dwells  in  His 
"place" — the  "heaven  of  heavens"  (i  Kings  viii.  27.,  2  Chron.  ii.  6, 
andvi.  18).  As  JEHOVAH,  His  "Spirit  of  God"— His  WORD— 
His  FLAME— He  ordained  Creation,  through  processes  of  Nature, 


INJURESOUL.  205 

under  His  Eternal  Laws  of  MOVEMENT,  LIKE  unto  LIKE.  After  this 
conception  of  ONE  GOD,  in  Dual  Existence,— as  His  LIGHT,  and  as 
His  FLAME,  or  "  Spirit  of  LIGHT" — my  mind  is  receptive  of  another 
impression,  which  gives  me  my  Triune  Deity  ;  gives  me  an  Incar- 
nation of  FLAME,  the  "Spirit  of  Light,"  in  my  acceptance  of  JESUS 
CHRIST,  as  a  manifestation  of  "the  God  of  the  Earth"  adored  by 
Abraham,  and  announced  by  Hebrew  prophets.  This  impression 
makes  me  a  Trinitarian  Christian ;  because  its  completeness  of  con- 
viction lifts  my  soul  to  loving  contemplation  of  ONE  GOD,  as  HE  Is 
ETERNALLY  !  the  Infinite  Source  of  LIGHT,  Essence  of  all  elements; 
His  Nature,  Pure  Love,  in  Movement  as  Light  and  Life,  in  His 
"  heaven  of  heavens  ;"  and  in  Movement  as  Pure  Flame,  in  His 
earthly  Universe  by  FLAME  created.  Why  shall  I  not  be  satisfied 
with  this,  my  FAITH  sublime?  my  conception  of  an  ETERNAL 
SOURCE  of  Love,  Light,  and  Life  ?  a  Source  whence  only  PURE  GOOD 
can  flow  to  us,  His  creatures  ?  What  is  it  to  me,  that  human  WILLS 
have  obstructed  and  perverted  Divine  ways,  to  the  affliction  of  man- 
kind and  physical  Nature  ?  I  deplore  the  lugubrious  FACT  of  EVIL 
in  this  world,  for  which  human  wills  alone  are  responsible.  But  my 
contemplation  of  an  INEFFABLE  BEING  whose  Eternal  Existence  is 
an  Existence  of  Flowing  Love,  Light,  and  Life,  for  this  earth  He  made, 
through  His  Energy  of  Flame  !  my  reflection  upon  this  UNCHANG- 
ING and  ALL-SUFFICING  Source  of  All-Good,  whose  INFINITY 
abides  for  redeemed  Humanity  in  an  Eternity  of  Happiness  ;  when 
Nature  shall  resume  her  allegiance  to  Law,  and  MALARIA  shall  be 
no  more  forever ! — are  not  these  conclusions  of  my  search— to 
4<  find  out  GOD  " — an  "  exceeding  great  reward  "  for  my  MIND  ? 
•whether  this  or  that  supercilious  reader  shall  toss  away  book  of  mine 
with  ridicule  or  indifference  ?  Quos  ridet  denique,  ridet  tandem  ! 

NOTE  73,  page  150,  line  17. — "Posit  this  Immanence!"  It  is 
not  difficult  to  conceive  of  PURE  FLAME  within  INFINITE  LIGHT, 
at  whatsoever  inner  place  Divine  Will  and  Movement  ordain.  Math- 
ematicians define  INFINITY  as  "centre  everywhere,  circumference 
nowhere."  Let  me,  then,  conceive  of  an  ordained  flow  of  LOVK, 


206  INJURESOUL. 

LIGHT,  and  LIFE,  to  any  point  of  INFINITY,  as  CREATIVE  FLAME. 
Let  me  posit  that  FLAME  as  a  periphery  of  some  allotted  aerial 
Space ;  and  I  can  quickly  apprehend  the  action  of  FLAME  encom- 
passing such  aerial  Space.  For  I  know  that  CREATIVE  FLAME  is 
continent  of  all  essences  precursive  of  every  element  required  to  con- 
stitute water  and  earth.  I  know  that  heat-force,  under  Laws  of 
Movement,  LIKE  unto  LIKE,  must  ordinate  flows  of  mist,  because 
mist  is  always  an  outcome  of  flaming  heat.  I  know  that  mist,  per- 
mitted to  accrete  its  units,  will  become  vapor ;  and  that  vapors,  un- 
der heat-force,  expand  to  dry  air,  and  are  separated  from  liquefied 
vapors  flowing  as  water.  I  arrive  here,  at  the  "  Beginning "  of 
CREATION,  which  Moses  chronicles  as  a  beginning,  without  doubt, 
of  earthly  TIME.  What  more  have  I  to  reflect  upon,  in  view  of  NA- 
TURE, entering  on  her  processes  of  development  and  formation,  un- 
der Laws  of  Movement,  LIKE  unto  LIKE?  Only  this;  an  impor- 
tant consideration ;  that  the  Almighty  Designer  and  Architect  of 
our  universe  decreed  a  "  Beginning,"  noted  by  Moses,  and  that,  sub- 
sequently, after  four  thousand  years  of  Time,  His  "Spirit  of  Light  " 
INCARNATE,  as  CHRIST,  predicted  an  END  of  TIME,  which  must  in- 
evitably close  this  world  of  ours,  in  a  consummation  of  all  created 
things  not  "  saved  "  as  immortal  souls.  I  know  this  doctrine  is  a 
slighted  one ;  that  our  "  advanced  minds,"  our  preachers  of  "  develop- 
ment "  are  prone  to  optimistic  hopes  regarding  future  ages  of  progress 
for  humanity  ;  and  that  many  Christian  thinkers  ignore  plain  words  of 
Christ  himself  concerning  "  latter  days"  of  earth  and  its  belongings. 
But  this  I  know,  also ;  that  there  is  no  possible  way  to  eliminate 
from  all  flowing  airs  their  burdens  of  MALARIA— miscalled  "  natural 
gases  "—but  that  way  which  Chemistry  has  learned  ;  when  stress  of 
crucial  heats  consumes  not  only  nitrogen— this  foe  of  life,  azote—  but 
remands  ozone  to  its  LIKE— that  lambent  flame  of  normal  HEAT, 
which  every  electric  light,  every  gas-jet,  every  wick  of  a  tallow  can- 
dle, shrines  at  its  core  of  combustion  !  a  consumeless  flame;  such 
an  apparition,  in  substance,  as  Moses  beheld  when  "the  bush  burned 
with  fire,  and  the  bush  was  not  consumed." 


INJURESOUL.  207 

NOTE  74,  page  151,  line  12.— Every  air-current  flows  with  some 
freightage  of  elementary  essence.  It  may  carry  units  of  matter  indis- 
pensable for  vegetable  and  animal  life ;  or  it  may  bear  deleterious  units. 
NATURE,  is  constrained  to  unceasing  movement.  Pier  fluids,  when 
congested,  and  estopped  from  normal  movement,  become  at  variance 
with  her.  Fluids  must  move,  toward  natural  accretions  into  earthly 
substances,  or  else  in  antagonism  of  Nature.  Accretion  of  snows 
on  mountain-heights  is  an  ordination  of  Nature  for  supplies  of  pure 
water,  to  feed  sub-tending  springs  and  rills.  But  ice-formation, 
whereby  seas  and  lands  are  burthened,  as  in  Arctic  countries,  with 
floes  and  bergs  obstructing  human  movement  toward  cultivation  of 
soils,  is  an  unnatural  consequence  of  human  shortcomings  in  neg- 
lect of  Nature's  laws.  So,  likewise,  while  normal  Heat  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  life  and  growth,  there  is  no  question  that  con- 
gestions of  air  and  water-flows  common  in  tropical  countries — where- 
by river-courses  are  obstructed  or  diverted,  morasses  accumulated, 
forest-growth  choked,  and  barren  soils,  or  saltless  sands,  substi- 
tuted for  fertile  plains — must  be  antagonistic  to  Nature  and  her 
Laws,  as  they  are  inimical  to  MAN,  who  is  responsible  for  them. 

NOTE  75,  page  152,  line  .6.  — Perfection  of  LAW  comprehends  all 
subject-matter  of  regulation.  My  perception  of  DEITY  accepts  His 
GODHEAD  as  the  Eternal  and  Omnipotent  LAW  OF  DIRECTION  for 
all  things  ;  for  every  unit  of  substance.  THIS  LAW  sanctifies,  en- 
shrines, and  secludes  His  BEING  from  every  unit  of  substance  which 
is  not  IMMACULATE  like  Himself,  as  Perfect  Love,  Light,  and  Life. 
No  aspiration  of  a  soul  can  reach  His  Divine  Cognition,  unless 
that  aspiration  is  of  unmixed  purity.  So  it  follows  conclusively,  that 
an  INTERMEDIARY  recipient  of  human  aspirations  was  absolutely  ne- 
cessary. And  the  All-Merciful  became  INCARNATE,  as  His  Son  Je- 
sus Christ ;  MEDIATOR,  INTERCESSOR.  To  Christ,  as  the  "  Holy 
Spirit,"  souls  may  lift  their  prayers  for  help,  for  strength,  for  direc- 
tion. The  ETERNAL  LAW  of  Movement,  LIKR  unto  LIKE,  responds, 
without  fail,  to  their  needs.  It  is  this  assurance,  that  a  "Comforter" 
was  to  supplement  the  Incarnation  and  Sacrifice  of  Christ,  which  sus- 


20  8  INJURE  SOUL. 

tained  the  faith  of  early  Christians,  as  it  suffices  for  devout  believers 
now. 

NOTE  76,  page  153,  line  2. — Vain  "  minds,"  in  books,  have  spec- 
ulated respecting  "  an  eternity  of  idleness  "  preceding  CREATION, 
six  thousand  years  ago.  What  idea  ofDiviNE  SUBSISTENCE,  in 
Eternal  Life,  is  commensurate  with  OMNIPOTENCE  ?  Certainly  no 
other  idea  but  that  of  "  Ineffable  Blessedness  !"  He  who  is  MASTER, 
of  all  ways  and  means  known  to  mankind  as  auxiliary  to  human 
happiness,  could  assure  transcendent  bliss  to  His  Own  Being.  What 
occasion,  then,  for  an  ordination  of  His  FLAME,  as  Creative  Force, 
to  construct  an  earth  for  humanity  ?  His  FLAME  might  flow  with- 
in His  Own  Being  as  Love,  Light,  and  Life,  eternally  without  move- 
ment toward  creative  ENERGY.  We  can  refer  CREATION  to  one  mo- 
tive only ;  the  desire  of  a  LOVING  GOD  to  make  loving  creatures, 
for  the  enjoyment  of  happiness  like  His  own.  That  His  Blessed 
Will  has  not  been  the  way  of  mankind,  is  man's  fault,  as  his  misfor- 
tune. In  other  pages,  I  shall  seek  LIGHT  upon  that  unanswered 
question  :  "  Why  did  not  GOD,  in  creating  mankind,  assure  such 
conditionings  of  human  nature,  that  no  disobedience  to  Divine  Laws 
could  be  possible?  "  I  harbor  no  doubts— I  apprehend  no  difficul- 
ties—  in  the  way  of  settling  this  question,  as  it  should  be  settled,  to 
the  glory  of  God. 

NOTE  77,  page  153,  line  10. — "What  we  mean  by  MIND,"  wrote 
Sir  William  Hamilton,  "is  that  which  perceives,  thinks,  feels,  wills, 
and  desires."  Thomas  Reid,  a  profound  metaphysician,  denned  Mind 
as  "  that  in  a  man  which  thinks,  remembers,  reasons,  wills."  But 
such  conclusions  embrace  operations  only  /  they  fail  to  identify  MIND, 
as  an  agent,  an  entity  ;  a  power  we  image  and  locate.  MIND  is  con- 
founded with  SOUL,  from  which  it  is  distinct  as  darkness  from  sun- 
shine. MIND  is  a  catena  of  impressions  initiated  by  WILLS  of  animals, 
and  closing  with  those  WILLS.  Animal  heats  begin  and  conclude 
mental  processes,  from  the  sensation  which  precedes  a  perception,  to 
the  determination  of  each  mental  operation  by  "  mind  made  up,'"  as 
will  to  act.  The  locale  of  all  mental  action — whether  it  be  fleeting, 


INJURESOUL.  209 

as  a  mere  impulse,  or  whether  it  be  prolonged  in  severe  ratiocination 
of  complex  ideas— is  identified  as  the  nervous  plexus  only  ;  the 
animal  economy  involved  in  nerves  of  sensation  and  direction. 
"  Nihil  in  intelleclu  nisi  quod  prius  fuerit  in  sensu,"  said  Locke;  to 
which  Leibnitz  added  :  "  Nisi  ipse  intellectus  !''  affirming  his  belief 
that  Mind  is  not  only  an  outcome  of  sensation,  but  is  itself  sensation; 
a  conclusion  absolutely  true ;  because  sensation  is  perception  of  an 
impression  upon  the  flesh-point  of  a  nerve,  or  capillary,  by  contact  of 
an  air-point — a  point  of  electric  heat-force,  conveying  intelligence  to 
the  nerve  ;  precisely  as  a  communication  of  telegraphic  intelligence 
is  ordinated  instantly  by  junction  of  wire  with  wire.  It  is  Nature's 
provisioning  for  conveyance  of  light,  from  her  "  universals, "  in  air, 
to  animal  natures :  so  that  intelligence  may  inform  them  in  ratios  flf 
their  demands  and  capacities  to  receive  impressions  of  intelligence. 
' '  In  my  own  mind, "  wrote  Professor  Joseph  Henry,  shortly  before  his 
death,  in  1878 — "  I  find  ideas  of  right  and  wrong,  of  good  and  evil. 
These  ideas,  then,  exist  in  the  universe,  and,  therefore,  form  a  basis 
of  our  ideas  of  a  moral  universe."  "  Universals  "  were  accepted  by 
ancient  philosophers,  who  believed  in  their  existence,  as  Divine 
ideas,  basic  of  all  intelligence  designed  for  human  uses.  But  Divine 
ideas,  like  PURE  AIR,  are  burthened  with  human  ideas,  good,  bad,  and 
indifferent,  flowing  as  mental  malaria  in  air-currents,  like  with  like. 
I  have  no  space,  nor  is  this  my  place,  to  enlarge  upon  the  subject. 
Let  it  suffice,  that  intelligence  is  subsistent  in  AIR  ;  that  it  has- 
tens, at  call  of  animal  will,  to  impress  animal  nerves ;  that  it  is  com- 
posed of  heat-units,  (essences  of  all  elements;)  that  it  is  conveyed 
by  electric  heat-force  to  junction  with  animal  nerves;  under  Laws  of 
Movement,  like  unto  like ;  that  it  must  be  substance,  because  it  im 
presses  as  force.  To  fancy  force  without  contact  (Newton  said)  is  an 
"absurdity,"  and  contact  presupposes  tangibility,  a  quality  of  sub- 
stance. Whatever  intelligence  is  called  for  by  any  HUMAN  WILL, 
flows  to  it  with  electric  impressioning,  as  like  to  like.  If  it  be  Sar- 
danapalus,  the  Assyrian  despot,  who  demands  perverse  impressions, 
until  his  surfeited  MIND  concludes  its  reasoning,  with  a  suicidal 


2io  INJURE  SOUL. 

death ;  and   he   leaves   on   record   his   ultimate   of  reason—  "  Eat, 

drink,  and  love ;  the  rest  is  not  worth   a   fillip!" or,    if  it   be 

INJURESOUL,  wasting  his  human  existence  in  vain  essayal  of  "inde- 
pendent thought  " — what  else  but  ANIMAL  WILL  is  involved  with  ail 
this  MIND  of  ours  ?  what  is  INJURESOUL  accomplishing,  while  he 
calls  on  Nature  to  honor  his  drafts  on  her  intelligence  ?  He  receives 
words,  he  collates  them,  or  he  summons  "  ideas''  of  other  human 
natures,  and  repeats  their  use,  in  his  "  advanced  mind."  His  WILL 
— a  purely  sensuous  outcome  of  his  animal  economy — is  the  result 
of  his  collocations  of  received  words.  His  sensations  — arranged  as 
impressions,  perceptions,  reflections — "makeup"  his  infidel  mind  ;  as 
a  book  is  compiled  from  -words  of  a  dictionary  ;  Nature— in  her  flow- 
ing airs — providing  his  dictionary.  Swelling  with  big  words,  big 
ideas,  he  claims  INTELLECT.  I  accord  his  claim.  "Intellect"  is  a 
compilation  of  cultured  sensations.  But  as  INJURESOUL  receives  im- 
pressions, as  sensations,  so,  under  ETERNAL  LAWS,  he  must  write 
his  sensations  as  impressions— on  yon  blue  palimpsest  of  ambient 
airs;  continent  of  all  impressions,  as  of  all  essences  of  substances. 
There,  on  that  scroll  of  TIME,  abides  every  THOUGHT  that  INJURE- 
SOUL has  ever  impressed  on  paper,  or  breathed  on  air  !  THERE  is 
his  record  ;  for  there  flows  the  record  of  every  human  mind,  in  char- 
acters of  air,  to  burn  one  day  as  lurid  light ;  witness  to  each  mortal 
life !  confession  of  each  human  WILL !  verdict  unquestionable  ! 
judgment  irrevocable ! 


WHAT  MORE? 

Four  Thousand  Rhymes  with  Four  Score  Reasons  for 
Rhymes. 

And  the  book-maker  not  yet  done !  .  .  . 

In  these  days  of  many  still-born  books,  and  so  few 
nurslings ! 

Peradventure !    

Yet,  haply,  if  Rhymes  are  unread  and  Reasons  ignored, 
a  few  "Last  Words"  may  arrest  some  eye,  if  they  stir  no 
•heart. 

Succinctly,  then,  I  append   my  postscript ;  setting  forth  : 

1.  That  my  adoption  of  a  title  for   my  book — "  IXJURE- 
SOUL  " — was  to  use — toward  usufruct — a  suggestive j'eu  d'un 
mot.  » 

2.  That  my  arraignment  of  Scholastic  Science  is  in  vindi- 
cation of  DIVINE    GOODNESS,  and  in  behalf  of  Humanity 
misled  by  human  Philosophies. 

3.  That  my  essay  is  to  exalt  Eternal  Laws  and  Omnific 
Power  over  imagined  laws  and  forces  of  Keplerian  and  New- 
tonian ASTRONOMY. 


2i2  INJURESOUL. 

4.  That  I  dismiss  every  assumption  of  GEOLOGY  conflict- 
ing with  Mosaic   cosmogony  and  Scriptural  chronology. 

5.  That  I  question  all  "provings"  of  CHEMISTRY  which 
attribute  to   NATURK — as    normal  components    of   AIR — 
those  deadly  gases,  nitrogen,  hydrogen,  oxygen,  and  their 
malarious  compounds. 

6.  That  I  reject  the  accepted  theory  bequeathed  by  HAR- 
VEY, as  his  "  discovery  of  blood  circulation  ;"  an  error  which, 
during  two  hundred  years,  has  denied  progress  to  MEDICAL 
SCIENCE. 

7.  That  I   denounce   "DARWINISM  ;"  and    condemn^ 
also,  an  impious  delusion   tolerated   by  religious   people  ; 
who  admit  that  evils  and  afflictions,  of  Humanity  and  phy- 
sical Nature,  subsist  by  "  permission  "  of  an  All-Good   and 
All-Merciful  GOD. 

In  words  foregone,  my  FAITH  propounds,  my  REASON 
perpends,  and  my  Nature  assures  me,  that  every  WORD  I 
utter,  by  pen  or  tongue,  and  every  word  uttered  by  any 
other  pen  or  tongue,  was  originally  a  word  moulded  in  air, 
to  be  impressed  on  SENSE,  as  lines  of  a  picture  are  drawn 
on  air,  to  be  impressed  on  a  sensitive  plate.  I  have  averred 
my  belief  that  NATURE  is  responsible  for  WORDS  only,  and 
that  REASON  is  chargeable  with  their  COLLOCATION,  as 
MIND. 


INJURE  SOUL.  213 

Moreover,  that  COLLOCATED  words,  as  MIND,  are  instantly 
imprinted,  by  the  act  of  their  utterance,  on  this  ambient 
AIR,  whereof  all  things  are  born  or  made — WORDS,  as  well  as 
other  things ! — and  that  all  imprints  of  collocated  words,  on 
AIR,  must  remain  as  RECORDS  on  AIR,  until  the  consummation 
of  all  things,  when  every  utterance  made  by  tongue  or  pen 
shall  WITNESS  for,  or  against,  a  MIND  which  framed  it  as 
language. 

Writing  in  this  belief — that  collocated  words,  as  abiding 
WITNESS,  must  confound  every  LIE,  and  expose  each  FOLLY 
framed  by  perverted  mentality — it  behooves  me  to  weigh 
what  I  photograph  as  my  substantial  impress  on  these  airs 
of  heaven,  which  are  to  bear  their  testimonies,  ere  yet  they 
shall  shrivel  "  as  a  SCROLL." 

SCIENCE  may  smile  at  my  proposition,  that  AIRS — which 
carry  all  substances  in  esse,  and  move  all,  in  posse— can 
transfer  facial  lines  as  MATTER,  to  print  semblances,  as 
actual  substances,  and  that  lightning-flashes  thus  convey 
substances,  to  fix  them  on  glass,  and  even  on  living  bodies, 
as  images. 

But  if  transmission  of  lights  and  shades,  and  their  im- 
pingement, as  lights  and  shades,  are  facts  of  evidence  which 
involve  CONTACTS  of  substances  with  substances,  after  PASSAGE 
in  AIR,  wrut  theory  but  that  of  "force-points"  can  explain 


2i4  INJURE  SOUL. 

such  phenomena  ?  If"  force-points  "  be  urged,  my  Laws  ol 
Nature,  "MOVEMENT  of  LIKE  to  LIKE/'  are  recognized. 

And  their  TRUTH  makes  explicable  every  wonder  of 
NATURE,  every  miracle  of  Scripture. 

By  MOVEMENT,  LIKE  to  LIKE,  His  WILL,  who  ordered  it, 
constrained  that  flow  of  aerial  essences  which  permeat:d 
WATER  until  it  became  WINE  at  Cana  in  Galilee  ;  even  as  His 
WILL  ordained  a  flow  of  aerial  WORDS  in  every  language,  when 
His  "  Gift  of  Tongues  "  was  poured  out  on  His  Chosen  ; 
"a  sound  from  heaven,  as  of  a  rushing,  mighty  wind,''  at 
their  feast  of  Pentecost. 

My  claim  Lr  OMNIPOTENCE  is  OMNIPRESENCE,  conceded  by 
aril  who  believe  that  "  God  is  everywhere."  I  adore  these 
Attributes  of  my  MAKER  and  PRESERVER,  as  they  are  forever 
in  MOVEMENT  of  NATURE  ;  as  His  AIR  of  Nature,  my  life— 
His  LIGHT  of  Nature,  my  intelligence — His  HEAT  of  Nature, 
my  force. 

My  challenge  lies  at  Philosophy's  gate. 

What  I  have  penned,  in  a  "  SATIRE  FOR  SCIENCE,"  may  or 
may  not  call  out  discussion  of  its  TRUTH. 

Knot,  my  work  is  ENDED,  for  "Schools  of  Thought." 

For  myself,  it  is  only  BEGUN. 


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